Baltimore Ravens' Bronson Kaufusi Joins Show Your Soft Side Campaign

An injury has kept NFL rookie Bronson Kaufusi on the sidelines this season, but although his broken ankle prevented the football player from taking to the field as a defensive end for the Baltimore Ravens, nothing could stop him from helping to defend cats and dogs from the pain of abuse.

The sports star is the latest in a long line of animal-loving luminaries who have stepped in front of photographer Leo Howard Lubow’s camera to promote the Show your Soft Side campaign. The photo series, which can be seen in ads and on billboards, has also featured such famous fans of felines as Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles, MMA fighter John Rallo,former NFL wide receiver Qadry Ismail, lacrosse player Kevin Crowley and IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden.

While some of the personalities who have taken part in the Show Your Soft Side campaign pose for the paws cause with members of their own fur family, Kaufusi and other notables have used their star wattage to shine a spotlight on a specific animal in need. The photogenic feline looking into the lens alongside the sports figure is Squeaky from Community Cats Maryland, a nonprofit organization which strives to help the approximately 185,000 stray and feral cats in the city of Baltimore by running monthly low-cost spay/neuter clinics and educating the public about TNR (Trap Neuter Release).

Reaching out to impressionable adolescents who mistakenly equate masculinity with menacing those who cannot defend themselves, the Show Your Soft Side campaign not only illustrates compassion through photos, it also helps to raise funds for, and awareness of, the largest open shelter in Baltimore, BARCS (the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter) through the sale of Soft Side merchandise and fundraising events like “Pawject Runway.”

Photo Credit: Show Your Soft Side/ Leo Howard Lubow

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Grace Sydney

Grace Sydney is the Assistant Editor of CatTipper.com and DogTipper.com, covering rescue-related celebrity activities.