During the first week of October, IAR Malta participated in an animal awareness event organised by schools to coincide with World Animal Day.
A number of state and private schools invited IAR’s Max Farrugia to give lectures on a range of animal issues and he managed to fit in visits to seven schools. This amounted to a total of six hundred students between the ages of 7 and 14 years old.
For awareness week each school chooses a different animal topic, and this topic is also the theme for their lecture. During each talk Max also talks about IAR’S work to help animals in Malta and abroad. On this occasion the topics covered included wildlife, farm animals, companion animals and general animal welfare issues.
Some schools had organised colourful exhibitions of the students’ work. And in one of the schools Max visited the headmistress had asked the children to donate food to help the animal welfare groups. IAR was delighted to accept a lot of tinned food for cats and dogs and seed for the birds. The tinned food was passed on to the people who feed and care for stray cats in Malta.
Some schools also allowed pupils to bring their pets into school for a few hours. They were collected by the children’s parents who then also had the opportunity to view the exhibitions of the children’s work.