"Never work with children or animals."

"Never work with children or animals" is the famous quote from W.C. Fields.   He was referring to child and animal actors in a film setting and it was inferred that they would steal the scene. 

With my job in humane education it's impossible to avoid working with either one.  I will admit, however, that working with kids and animals can lead to unpredictable situations and my job requires that I go with the flow and try to find teachable moments when unintended situations come up.

The other afternoon I was at the after-school program at Blair Elementary School visiting with the kindergarten through 3rd graders in the school's gym/auditorium.  I did an activity with them showing  how quickly cats can multiply when you start with one unspayed cat.  Fiona, an adoptable HAWS cat, was in the carrier next to me as I worked with the kids and periodically let out mournful meows that told us just how unhappy she was with her confinement.

I always get a bit nervous taking cats to off-site programs because they are very unpredictable.  A cat who is seemingly outgoing and friendly at the shelter can behave very shut down and stressed in a different environment.  An unlike small animals that are easy to confine, cats are so athletic that they can easily get away if loose.

Before I took Fiona out of her carrier I told the kids that she might jump out of the circle they were sitting in, and if that happened they were to be completely quiet, stay put and allow one of the adults to go get Fiona.

I wasn't surprised when Fiona left the circle of kids, walked over to the wall and started walking the perimeter of the room.  It's very common for cats to do this in new environments as a way to ensure there isn't anything dangerous in the area.  I calmly walked behind her allowing her to check things out.  I really wasn't concerned until we came to the part of the room that contained the stage.  Unfortunately I didn't notice until it was too late that one of the sliding doors to the chair rack storage area under the stage was open by a few inches.  That's all it took; in a flash Fiona dashed in the opening and was gone.

The children were amazingly quiet and well behaved while the  adults crowded around the 3 foot high opening and shined a flashlight all the way back into the storage area.  After we pulled the chair carts out, we finally located Fiona huddled way in the back 20 feet away from us. 

Realizing there wasn't any way she'd come out on her own, I sighed, got down on my hands and knees, and crawled through what was probably 15 years worth of dust to retrieve her.

During this whole procedure the kids were still sitting in their circle, being very quiet and respectful.  I explained that Fiona was just a bit frightened and that's why she wanted to hide.   None of the kids complained that they didn't get enough time with the cat, and they all thanked me for coming as I left.

Rabbit on a Field Trip

 

HAWS adoptable Eleanor was kind enough to accompany me to Blair Elementary School in Waukesha for an after school program a few weeks ago.   The kids were really excited to meet Eleanor and learned a lot about rabbits as well. 

I started my visit talking about how fast rabbits can reproduce and the kids were amazed to find out that not only does HAWS take in a lot of rabbits, but that there are times we have more rabbits up for adoption than dogs or cats.   We talked about the fact that HAWS spays and neuters all of our rabbits before they go up for adoption, and how this helps prevent even more homeless rabbits from being born. 

Once Eleanor interacted with the kids they were amazed at how soft her fur was and how much she appeared to enjoy being petted.  Once they found out that as a prey animal rabbits are easily started by sudden movements and loud noises, the kids were very conscious of making sure they were quiet so that Eleanor was comfortable being with them. 

Some of the kids wanted to pick her up and were disappointed when I told them she needed to remain on the floor.  It made more sense to them as to why rabbits don't like to be picked up once I explained that the only reason a rabbit in the wild would be picked up is if an owl or coyote was going to carry them off for food. 

Eleanor had a really great outing that afternoon, and the kids learned a lot about rabbit behavior.  Now we just have to find a home so that Eleanor has a family of her own. 

Wild Animals as Pets

Every other Friday I do an after-school program at Blair Elementary School in Waukesha, WI. Last Friday my planned activity was one in which students are read a story about a boy who dreams that Martians have captured him. The boy is lonely, eats the same food every day, is bored, misses being able to be outside and be free, and is frightened when the martians pick him up and when they yell at him for misbehaving.

After the story the students are asked to discuss how the boy felt, and how it might feel to be a wild animal in the same situation.

While I didn't plan it, the timing of the activity corresponded with the news that an Ohio man had released his 56 exotic animals (including bears, lions, tigers and leopards) before committing suicide.

The activity generated some really great discussion about keeping wild animals as pets. Most of the kids understood that wild animals would be very unhappy being kept in captivity -- especially after I showed them photos of lions at the San Diego Safari Park and then photos of tigers being kept in a small chain link cage. I explained the range of habitat that big cats would have in the wild, and the type of space they'd have if kept as someone's pet. And we talked about how zoos attempt to create environments that are similar to those the animals would have in the wild and how they spend a lot of time trying to ensure that the animals are happy in a zoo habitat.

One of the boys said that if you raise a wild animal from baby on it won't be dangerous. I told the students about one of Siegfried and Roy's tigers attacking Roy -- a tiger that he'd raised from a cub and that had been working with him on stage for years before the attack. I explained that wild animals will always be wild -- and that they have instincts that will always be there no matter how they are trained.

While I know that kids often think it would be cool to have an exotic animal as a pet, I think the Blair Elementary School after-school students were given some ideas to think about that may change their minds. Hopefully the seed of doubt planted today will help them feel more humanely about wild animals kept in captivity in the future.

A Case of Multiplication

Math was never my strong suit - in school I much preferred reading and writing to 'rithmatic. When I was with the kids from Blair Elementary School in Waukesha on Friday for my after-school program visit, many of them felt the same way. Of the 10 kids present, only 3 raised their hands when I asked if they like math.

However, I brought along a math problem for us to work on together, and we all found it much more enjoyable and informative than math usually is. ASPCA has a website for kids called Animal Land. It has a ton of fun resources to educate kinds about animals -- cartoons, news stories and activity sheets are just a few of it's offerings.

Friday I used one of the activity sheets entitled Rabbits, Rabbits and More Rabbits to give the kids a frame of reference as to what can happen if an unspayed female animal is allowed to breed. After a year and 3 months you end up with 100 rabbits. While this is a great biological mechanism for a wild bunny where the survival rate is extremely low, this is a disaster for a pet.

I knew that some of the kids would get it after my presentation and discussion, but I was really impressed that most of them really understood the ramifications of over-population and not spaying or neutering. Before we did the math problem Joseph had said, "But what if you want to breed your pet?". And afterward when we were talking about how to take care of 100 bunnies and probably not being able to find homes for them all I could tell he was re-thinking his original question.

Activities like this are so simple to do, and yet open up a wonderful avenue for discussion with kids. Not only did we talk about spaying and neutering pets, but also about what makes a good breeder, the fact that just because animals are cute doesn't mean that they are healthy enough to be bred, and gave me a chance to review what HAWS is and why we take in animals.

And as always, the best part of the visit was the animal I brought - a rabbit of course. Beauty charmed the kids and had a blast trying to figure out ways to break out of the circle of kids. She was able to explore quite a bit of the library while performing evasive manuevers in the meantime.

I know meeting Beauty was the kid's favorite part of my visit, but I'm hopeful they will remember our math problem as they grow older and get pets of their own.

Cats, Cats and More Cats

Two fridays a month I spend time with some of the kids in the after-school program at Blair Elementary School in Waukesha. I'm known as "The Humane Society Lady" who sets up fun games for the kids to play and brings all sorts of cool animals for them to meet.

The games are always animal related, and usually have a lesson. This week we did an activity that was meant to teach the kids what can happen when a cat isn't spayed. You can see in the photo that there are sheets of paper with photos attached. Each sheet represents one offspring or descendent of the original cat, and their offspring within a 15 month period of time.

Of course this week I brought a cat for the children to meet. Tony was recommended by the staff as being outgoing and probably a good choice to take to the school. But as so often happens when working with children, and when working with animals things don't always go as planned.

I had the kids sit in a circle and put Tony the cat in the middle. He jumped out. I went and retrieved him and put him back in the circle. He jumped out again -- this time hiding under a book cart.

I decided to make the best out of a disappointing situation by asking the kids why they thought Tony kept leaving the circle. The kids came up with some very thoughtful answers; he was afraid of the kids, the kids were being too noisy and frightening him, it was a new environment and he wanted to explore and he wanted to go over and look out the window (which he did the first time he left).

Ultimately I committed kitty torture by holding Tony in my arms and allowing each of the kids to spend a few seconds petting him. It certainly wasn't the experience I was looking for - a calm cat walking around the circle and reveling in the joy of the kids petting him. But in many ways it turned out better than I could have hoped; Tony gave me an opportunity to get the kids to think about his feelings.