by Travis Kinley wasn’t expecting to become a viral sensation along with his donkey, Nathan. But when he spontaneously began singing “Cirle of Life” from Disney’s The Lion King, Nathan decided to join in and brayed along to the tune.
“[I] did the Lion King opening and Nathan joined in with me!” Kinley wrote as introduction to the video. “Love this dude!”
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Nathan’s enthusiastic braying caught Travis off guard. “I had no idea Nathan would bray,” Kinley told FOX Carolina. “You can see in the video I’m actually shocked when he does it! He’s brayed before, but never like that!”
Kinley, who is the shelter director at Sumter United Ministries in South Carolina, told the news station that he filmed the impromptu video as part of a joke to share with a Facebook group of preachers. They had been kidding with each other that with the release of the live action version of “Lion King” would come sermons that would include the popular song.
It turns out the adorable donkey is a rescue of Travis’. “I got him from about the North Carolina, South Carolina line,” Kinley said. “He was causing some trouble at someone else’s house and I just picked him up for $100 bucks, he seemed alright with me.”
It seems Nathan is all right with a whole lot of other people too. The pair’s duet has garnered over 3.1 million views on Facebook alone. Travis told WCSC that he’s tempted to put up a projector in his backyard to play the movie for Nathan and that “maybe he’ll even pick up some new songs.”
