Pandemic Closes Restaurants, Owner Flies to Save Dogs

 

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

When the coronavirus health crisis closed the businesses of a restaurant owner in Chicago, he decided¹ to get involved in something else -- saving animals!

Eduard Seitan is co-owner and operator of nine restaurants and food supply businesses in Chicago. But he also is a volunteer airplane pilot for Pilots-n-Paws, an animal rescue organization. On its website, Pilots-n-Paws says its efforts have led to the rescue of over 150,000 animals.

Seitan himself has flown over 25 missions and has transported about 60 animals to safety. His fiancée Debbie often flies with him on the rescue missions.

"The stuff that I see that humans do to their dogs drives me absolutely crazy. Like, Debbie showed me a video yesterday of a dog that was so ... so badly injured ... that I could not stop crying."

All the animals, Seitan explains, are being rescued from kill shelters. These shelters destroy pets that do not find new owners after a period of time. The animals also are rescued from unhealthy conditions. Most of the dogs, he said, have suffered great abuse.

The Pilots-n-Paws website is a meeting place for animal rescue volunteers, volunteer pilots, and plane owners. Seitan heard about the organization in 2018 and quickly joined as a volunteer.

A few days later, on New Year's Eve, he flew his first mission. A dog named Phoebe was heading to a kill shelter. Seitan's part of the mission was to fly the dog to Missouri and then another pilot was to fly her to her new home in Idaho.

The mission was a success. Phoebe was saved. The dog's new owner, a blind woman, recently sent Seitan a picture of Phoebe and her together. The woman's husband wrote that Phoebe has brought great happiness to his wife's life.

After that first mission, Seitan was hooked. He wanted to save more dogs and other pets.

"Besides Phoebe, do you have any other missions that stick out in your memory?"

"Oh, most of them, my God. I can recite almost every single one..."

He talks lovingly of Bella, a dog that wandered into the U.S. diplomatic offices in Bosnia-Herzegovina and would not leave. Diplomats² there flew the dog to Chicago and then Seitan flew Bella to her new home in Wisconsin.

Another of Seitan's missions was to save a dog named Hero. Hero was severely³ abused. He was used as a target while humans shot fireworks at him.

"Hero was used for target practice for fireworks, so he had... Oh my gosh. Yeah, he was just as target practice and he had burns everywhere - burns on his forehead, hind⁴ legs, belly⁵, everywhere."

Seitan said he has long been a dog lover. Flying airplanes came later. However, flying was a childhood dream that almost did not happen. When he was young, a neighbor in Romania told Seitan that he would never be a pilot. So, he forgot his dream of flying.

He did not realize his dream until 2007. That year, a customer threatened to never eat at his restaurant again if Seitan did not come flying with him. Not wanting to lose a long-time customer, Seitan agreed. Soon after, he bought his own plane for about $34,000 and has not stopped flying.

Chicago's restaurants hit hard by COVID-19

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Seitan grew up in the mountains surrounding that city. During our interview, he shared a detail from his childhood in Romania.

"Let me just say to you and to your audience that I grew up in Romania listening to Voice of America on shortwave radio. ("Get out!") Oh, absolutely. My dad had a big radio and that was a nightly thing that we did. We sat around the table [at] dinner time and we listened to Voice of America. For us, that was a lifeline. That was the only way to get outside news. So, yeah, I thank Voice of America for that."

In 1992, Seitan moved to the United States and began working in the restaurant business.

He was good at it. Seitan and his business partner employed more than 1,000 people in their 11 restaurants and food shops. But when the COVID-19 health crisis hit, they had to close two businesses permanently⁶. Most of the others remain closed for winter. They also had to cut their number of employees to about 100.

Many Chicago restaurants have not survived, even well-known ones. Seitan's restaurant, Blackbird, is one of them.

"Every day you see news about another victim of the pandemic, another beloved restaurant, closing down. When we closed Blackbird, there was an outcry because Blackbird is ... was the oldest, fine dining, Michelin-starred restaurant in the city."

When talking about his food service businesses, Seitan is looking toward the future. He hopes spring will bring better times for Chicago's restaurant culture.

He also believes in luck and knocks on wood to get a little of it.

"And now we have about nine shops or so. Some of them are dormant⁸ for this winter. Let me knock on wood, hopefully we'll -- I just knocked on wood -- hopefully, we'll re-open all of them in the spring!"

But for now, Seitan is putting his time, money, and energy into helping⁹ these animals. He says it is his way of helping.

"We all give back in our own ways. Everyone does something. And this is my way."

It has also helped him get through this period of uncertainty¹⁰.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report.

Words in This Story

mission – n. a specific task with which a person or a group is charged

fiancée – n. a woman engaged to be married

pet – n. a tame animal kept as a companion rather than for work

crazy – adj. unable to think in a clear or sensible way

hooked – v. fascinated by or devoted¹¹ to something

sticks out – v. to be prominent or conspicuous¹² : to be obvious and clear

recite – v. to repeat from memory or read aloud publicly

customer – n. one that purchases a commodity or service

knocks on wood – interjection said to ward⁷ off bad luck

dormant – v. not doing anything at this time : not active but able to become active

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

5 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

8 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

11 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

12 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。