‘Unforgettable’: Jason Newsted serenades rescue animals at wildlife sanctuary

Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has swapped stadium-sized crowds for a much quieter audience, working with Florida’s Busch Wildlife Sanctuary to perform acoustic music for rescue animals. 

The sanctuary shared clips of Jason playing acoustic guitar and singing John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ to various resident animals - and it’s enough to get a bit of waterworks going. 

It's a long way from blasting ‘Master of Puppets’ in front of 80,000 people, but somehow it really works.

"At Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, enrichment is an important part of providing exceptional care for our animal ambassadors - and recently, they experienced something truly unforgettable,” the organisation wrote in their post. 

"Jason performed calming live music for several of our resident ambassadors, creating a unique sensory experience designed to stimulate curiosity, reduce stress and encourage natural behaviors,” they continued. 

“Every animal responds differently and it was incredible to watch their individual reactions to the sounds and rhythms throughout the session!"

The video comes just days after Newsted appeared on the Let There Be Talk podcast opening up about his upcoming tour with The Chophouse Band, recovering from throat cancer, and finally clearing the air on why he really left Metallica all those years ago.

Jason and his wife Nicole have been supporting the sanctuary for a while now too, with Nicole sharing another video just a few weeks ago of Jason singing and playing guitar for the animals.

 Nicole also revealed that one of the sanctuary’s resident grey foxes, Grayson, also battled and beat throat cancer. 

That makes the whole thing hit a little harder.

Fans were loving it in the comments.

“Big Jason! I'm glad you're in better health 🔥🔥🤘🏻”

“Jason's the man ❤️🫡”

And maybe the best one of the lot: “Every dog, cat & rabbit I’ve ever seen interact with Jason has been humble and real.”

Rock legend. Animal guy. Acoustic fox whisperer - what can’t he do?