Children learn to love animals if they are taught at a young age to treat animals with care and kindness. That was the motivation behind the EberVet Petcare Group’s visit to Danie Ackermann Primary School in Somerset West earlier this month.
More than 200 Grade 1 pupils were entertained by Country Animal Clinic’s Dr Ingrid and several staff members who helped the children understand compassionate pet care through lessons and a demonstration using Dr Ingrid’s beautifully behaved Alvin. The children were rapt as Alvin performed a few tricks too.
Children overcome their fear
Some of the kids were nervous any first but by the end of our visit they were happily patting Alvin and handing him treats. “A very special moment for me was when one very frightened little boy named Alvin (the same name as my dog) got to accept that not all dogs are to be feared. By the end of our visit, he was feeding the dog treats,” said Dr Ingrid.
In addition to Dr Ingrid’s lesson the children were each handed a Hero in my Hood colouring-in book and a packet of crayons. The colouring-in book teaches kids about kindness to animals.
“We helped the children understand that we are like animals and that they are like us, and we need to treat them with the same empathy and compassion and understanding. We believe that this in turn teaches children how to treat each other,” Dr Ingrid said.
Avoiding dog bites
A secondary focus was to help children read animals’ body language, in particular dogs, to avoid potential dog bites. The children were also schooled in rabies prevention as rabies is a growing issue in the Western Cape.
This initiative is part of the EberVet Group’s Community Impact Projects (CIP) programme which hosts four community projects per year – educational, environmental, social and animal. “Our company believes that we have a responsibility not only towards animals but to communities too; to assist where we can, to build and uplift,” said EberVet CEO Dr Hilldidge Beer. Team volunteers were selected from EberVet Vetshops, Country Animal Clinic, EberVet Pet Clinic and Cottage Vet Clinic.
“The Grade Ones of today are going to be tomorrow’s changemakers. We like to believe that by sharing our knowledge with them they will think differently about animals and about each other,” Dr Ingrid said.
