Edu-Paw, Snare Aware partner to educate children about wildlife
Although Edu-Paw's focus is on caring for dogs, it aims to broaden its education programme to include the environment.
IN an impactful and engaging session at Edu-Paw recently, Snare Aware educated the children in the programme on the health of the ecosystem and the dangers of illegal hunting.
A member of Snare Aware, whose identity cannot be disclosed due to safety concerns, said the children learnt that every animal plays an important role: snakes and owls help with rodent control while bees help with pollination.
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In an effort to showcase the difference between controlled hunting and poaching, the members did an activity with the children.
“We had two jars of sweets, one labelled ‘hunting’ and the other labelled ‘poaching’. Six children were chosen – three were the poachers, and three were the hunters. The ‘hunters’ were told to take only two sweets each. We explained that the animals needed time to breed, and we put another three sweets back, which represented the animals’ breeding. They were then told to take another one sweet each. The ‘poachers’ were told to take as many sweets as they liked, representing unsustainability. The children laughed and grabbed all the sweets out of the jar, and there was silence when they realised what the empty jar represented,” said the member.
The member thanked Edu-Paw for allowing them to come to speak to the children as well as for the amazing work they do. “We were well received, and it was encouraging to see that we made a positive impact on the children,” said the member.
Founder of Edu-Paw, Cathy Keegan, said although their focus is mainly on caring for dogs, they endeavour to broaden their education programme to expose the children to the importance of caring for the environment as a whole.
“Snare Aware also brought some snares, photos and even skulls of animals that had died in snares, to show the children the awful reality and suffering inflicted, not only on our wildlife but on domestic animals that get caught in snares,” she said, adding that she appreciated the members for being involved in their education initiative.
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