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No More Homeless Pets Forum
March 24, 2003 Humane Education |
Humane education? Isn't that just for kids? Nathania Gartman, founder and former director of humane education for Best Friends, shares creative ideas on how you, as an individual or as part of an organization, can develop an effective humane education program. Nathania passed away in July of 2003 and is missed very much.
Introduction from Nathania Gartman:
You've heard many of us on the forum talk about "Know your audience," "Know your competition", "Have a clear message." These are absolutely true in the area of humane education too. We'll talk this week about strategies for your humane education program, audiences besides youth, relating to different cultures, and how your humane education program fits into the overall business plan for your organization. (Yes, I said business plan, so don't freak out!)A typical day for the humane education staff here at Best Friends? We could be hosting teens from a prep school who are here for a two weeks as part of their school Spring break. One of the humane staff might be handling bookings for workshops, and another could be at the local pre-school or visiting with Native American students at the Boys and Girls Clubs on the Navajo Nation. Another day, you might find two of us manning a booth at an Early Childhood Education conference or a Utah Science Teachers conference. Or, we might be out building a dog walking trail with young people from a court-ordered youth program, or consulting with groups around the country--and not just rescue groups or animal welfare groups, but civic groups and educators.
In May, we will host 20 students from the University of Redlands who are taking a philosophy class that concentrates on animal welfare and animal rights issues. They will have classes here and participate in the daily routine of Best Friends.
We rarely do one-off visits to schools. How often have you learned something new after one exposure? Can we sometimes affect one student profoundly? Yes, of course. Can single visits to the schools change the behavior in the community? Probably not.
Throughout this week I'll answer your questions about how your humane education efforts can create real impact in your community.
Questions
Working with Hispanic communities to get our message out
Are single humane ed visits to schools reaching the kids?
How to we measure if we are having an impact on children's behavior?
How young is too young? Do pre-schoolers get our message?
How do we take the humane ed message to adults?
Reaching out to males with a humane message?
Changing male perceptions about neutering animals
"Read to a dog" program for children
Is bringing live animals to a classroom presentation a good idea?
How can shelters involve kids in volunteer opportunities under 16?
Do men really account for such a high percentage of cruelty to animals?
Additional comments related to males and cruelty
Developing humane ed resources for Asian cultures
Native American reservations and animals
Working with Hispanic communities to get our message out
Question from a member:
We are located in an agricultural region with a large population of mostly low-income Mexicans, both migrant and permanent residents. I noted no Hispanics participated in our Spay Day and no Hispanics have purchased our low-income spay/neuter vouchers, despite our targeting them by posting notices in the post office and in Hispanic grocery stores. What have you found successful in reaching the Hispanic culture with a humane message?Response from Nathania:
What do you mean when you say you "targeted the community"? Working with any cultural community involves more than just putting up a notice in a grocery store or post office. You really need to know the community and its needs. Last week you read from Julie Castle the need for research as it relates to marketing. The same is true for educational efforts in the community.You will need to talk with leaders in the Hispanic community and find out the competing messages in the community. Church leaders are a good source of information in the Hispanic community. You can also meet with leaders of social clubs.
You will need to know:
Do the families even understand spay/neuter?
Do they understand the surgery and that it is generally safe? American Humane Association did some studies a few years ago that showed that Hispanic people in selected Colorado communities were afraid of the surgery itself. They did not receive good health care themselves (especially low income or migrant workers) and therefore did not believe that their animals would be safe.
Are you asking them to spay/neuter because of pet overpopulation?
In an economically depressed community pet overpopulation is probably not a good enough reason to spend the money on altering a pet. Preventing dog bites that can affect their children might be a good reason.
Are your messages in Spanish and written by a local Spanish speaking person? An English to Spanish translation of an existing brochure may not be accurate. Find a local Hispanic person to translate.
Are you involved in other activities in the community? Does the Hispanic community know your organization? Do you set up booths at the local festivals and fairs? It is difficult to get your message into the community if you are perceived as an outsider or, more to the point, as someone who cares little about the needs of the community.
The ASPCA (www.aspca.org) has lesson plans in Spanish: Yo Quiero a Los Animales. You can also check their online bibliography for Spanish books. Allstate Insurance produces a coloring book about safety with dogs, "Fido, Friend or Foe?" Check with your local agent and you can receive free books to distribute at community booths.
I personally work with local Native communities. In the beginning, I made some grand assumptions that I could "teach them to be humane." So, I went to the communities and did my regular classroom presentations on pet care, vaccinations, veterinary care, getting your animal spayed/neutered and so on. At the end of one day's presentations, a wonderful Native teacher came up to me and told me that I had spent the entire day giving the children a sense of failure because there were no veterinary services in the community. The nearest veterinary clinic worked almost exclusively with large animals. The closest clinic that did spay/neuter was two hours away and charged $100. As an experienced educator I was mortified.
Thankfully, the Native teacher did not write me off as an "ignorant white person." One basic philosophy that she gave me was to understand the daily reality in the community and to leave people with something positive they can do.
Comment from Michelle:
Our local shelter asked our coalition to help them find educational information and forms in foreign languages. We just started the search, and I can't vouch for the information personally since I don't speak all of these languages, but here is what some of our members came up with:For translated rabbit information, here are the pages on the HRS national site (www.rabbit.org). These have lists of the documents translated into these languages:
German: http://www.rabbit.org/translations/german (this one actually has a front page in German, and then from there lists of documents in categories, all titles, etc. also in German
Spanish: http://www.rabbit.org/translations/spanish
Portuguese: http://www.rabbit.org/translations/portuguese
Japanese: http://www.rabbit.org/translations/japanese
And the Denver Dumb Friends League has the following resources available in Spanish: http://www.ddfl.org/tips.htm
Cómo entrenar a su perro para estar en una jaula (Crate Training)
¿Adentro o afuera? - Cómo lograr que su perro forme parte de su familia (Inside or Out? - Making Your Dog Part of the Family)
Su gato: ¿Vivirá adentro o afuera? (Your Cat: Inside or Out?)
Cómo entrenar a su cachorro para vivir en interiores (Housetraining Puppies)
Cómo mantener a su perro en su propiedad en todo momento (Keeping Your Dog Confined To Your Property)
Are single humane ed visits to schools reaching the kids?
Question from a Member:
In your introduction, you mentioned that one single visit to a school may not be completely effective at changing behaviors. How many times do you think children need to hear the message in order for it to be effective and do you think that we should be concentrating our humane ed efforts elsewhere, rather than going to schools one time?Response from Nathania:
First, remember that when relating to children at school, you are competing with the school's educational goals and the family/community environment as well. You are also competing with the knowledge that the teacher has about animals. For example, if I visit a classroom with a teacher who still loves "puppies", I am behind before I even enter the classroom. Humane educators around the country will tell you of times when they visited a classroom and talked about spay/neuter. The teacher comes in the next week with a litter of puppies or kittens.Here at Best Friends we offer a five-class series for younger children that concludes with a visit to the Sanctuary. The weekly lessons include: a general introduction to animals; animals have feelings; what animals need to be healthy; the difference between wild and domestic; and safety with animals. I am under no illusion that I will change these young people's behavior because of these five visits. However, we do these visits as part of our overall outreach to the local communities and being friends in the community. We are in a very family/child-oriented community. So, the visit will be mentioned also in our regular column in the local paper and in our online weekly newsletter. Over the years, these have helped break the stereotype of "those animal people", and the Sanctuary is seen as part of the community. Our other messages about spay/neuter, adoptions, vaccinations, dogs in the back of a truck, and so on, are more easily heard from a member of the community.
If you have the resources to do school visits (time, money, volunteers or staff that enjoy children) be very clear about the intent of those visits. If you think that visiting every third grade class in the community will change the community's relationship to animals, you will be mistaken. However, those same third-graders can do a great deal: collect items that you need for your humane organization; do a "jump-roping for animals" fund raiser; make a booklet about animals services in the area to send home to each family; or make blankets for your animals for adoptions. Then you have taught the students to be involved in animal rescue and you have helped the animals in your care. Work with young people if you enjoy being with them. Otherwise, don't do it. Your time and resources will be better spent in presentations with other groups.
Also, maximize your resources. Your work is about saving animals. Young people can be a big part of your outreach and they want to help. Be realistic about what you expect in the situation.
How do we measure if we are having an impact on children's' behavior?
Question from a Member:
We do a lot of school visits, and participate in a lot of festivals to reach out to kids, but we don't have a method of evaluating if our efforts are making a difference. How can we effectively gauge if our humane ed program is having an impact in making them more kind to animals?Response from Nathania:
What do you mean by "making them more kind to animals?" That is a very broad concept and open to interpretation depending on what area of animal welfare/rights you are discussing. For example, trap/neuter/release programs for feral cats could be considered humane by a shelter and inhumane by a conservation organization. We can disagree about adoption criteria, the definition of 'healthy, adoptable' and many other issues in animal welfare. It is unreasonable to expect the children in our community to conform to a specific definition of being kind to animals when we ourselves cannot agree on every issue.So, here are my suggestions:
Define what you mean by 'being kind'. For example, "The children do not throw rocks at animals - wild or domestic." " The children feed their pets everyday." " The children know how to approach a dog or cat safely." "The children provide a proper amount of water for their pets." " The children do not pick up wild animals and bring them home for pets."
What you are measuring must be something that the young people can do. That will depend on the age of the young person, their community and their socio-economic standing. A ten-year-old boy or girl could do yard work around the neighborhood to get the funds to neuter the male puppy. However, that same boy or girl might not be able to transport the puppy to a clinic. In a small, rural community the young person could walk with the puppy to a spay/neuter clinic. In a large city, transportation would be more difficult.
You would not want a six-year-old going out by him/herself to do work in the community. That same six-year-old could participate in a volunteer project with the family.
A high school student in a wealthy suburban area has more options: money, own transportation, education. Ask, "Can the child be responsible for the behavior you want to see?"
Be specific about the information that you want the children to know. Again, this needs to be age-appropriate. For example, spay/neuter, euthanasia, and pet overpopulation are concepts that are difficult for a four-year-old to understand. You could engage a middle school student in a lively discussion on the same issues.
Methods:
Pre-test and a post-test. This will involve active participation with the teacher. You can send an activity sheet ahead of time that the students fill out. After the presentation you have another activity sheet that is about the same topic. This is a very easy way to see what the students in a classroom know about the topic. The Kind News Teacher has great activity sheets and reproducibles (www.nahee.org). You can also check with the ASPCA for I Love Animals at www.aspca.org. For more possibilities go to www.teachingandanimals.org.
This kind of measurement is fine for elementary grades to determine knowledge of a topic like responsible care of a companion animal. It cannot measure if the children are, in fact, feeding the dog. It can measure if the students understood your presentation.
Reflections or journals. We use this method at the Sanctuary for our internships, service-learning projects, and workshops. Our interns do a weekly reflection that has directed questions. Sometimes the question is an abstract one like "Compare the culture of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary to that of other workplace environments." The next week could be to list all of the individual animals that they remember from the week and tell us about personality, medical requirements, and a physical description of each animal. After a six-week internship, we have a pretty good idea of that intern's attitude, conceptual knowledge, and practical knowledge. We also do interviews with the staff.
On a less intensive level, we do reflections after each workshop. The attendees write whatever they want about the affect of the workshop on them, what they learned, what they felt or what they wanted to learn but did not. The responses are more varied and more thoughtful than multiple-choice questionnaires.
Students that participate in service-learning projects also do reflections once or twice during their stay. Sometimes we do a double-entry journal that includes what they did and how they felt about it.
Contests: Depending on the design of a contest, you can tell a lot about the community. We have a yearly "Honoring Animals" contest that has language arts and visual arts components. The students K-12 can write, draw, or sculpt anything related to the topic--about how they care for their pets, about an animal they rescued, about a wild animal they like. The contest is a challenge to judge, but I learn a lot about the young people and the community.
For example, one year I received essays on "How I Care for My Pet" from a nearby rural community. Almost 75% of the essays told me about pets that died, were run over, or had disappeared. I was pretty sure that I needed to visit that community! Over the years, I have seen the essays in that community change and our mobile spay/neuter programs in the area are well received.
Another school sent me drawings of animals as seen through the barrel of a gun and essays on how hunting was honoring animals. You bet I went to that school! However, I went to have discussions with the tenth-grade students, instead of lecture. I wanted to know why they thought that hunting was honoring animals. While I did not agree with the students, many of them had very well thought out observations. We have continued the dialogue with that school and in recent years we have had several winners in the writing part of the contest from that school.
In one community, I had two very different experiences with teachers. One teacher is a member of Best Friends and regularly includes animal information in her classroom. Her students collect items for Furburbia and often raise funds for the Sanctuary. The artwork is thoughtful and students will think to include details about animal care: toys, water bowl, shelter, dog on a person's lap. The other teacher sent in essays that were about the puppies that she brought to class. She wrote me a note saying that her female had a litter of puppies and that she brought them to class for her students to see. Those two classes were from the same grade, from the same school, and told me a lot about the different attitudes in the same community. This reminded me that our educational efforts in that community could be undermined by the teachers themselves.
Young children will say what's on their mind. They have not learned to write or draw to meet your expectations. You can find out a lot about the community from the kids.
In conclusion, determine the behavior that you want to see and the information that you want to teach. You cannot change the entire community. You can educate with specific goals in mind.
How young is too young? Do pre-schoolers get our message?
Question from a Member:
We have a humane ed program through our shelter and often get asked to go out to pre-schools to do a presentation. Most of the time the kids are too small and there are too many to understand a message other than petting an animal. On one hand, we want to get the message across early about how to pet and approach an animal, but we feel that we end up babysitting more than educating them. Do you think this is worthwhile for us to continue, or is there a certain age limit that you recommend we put on our programs?Response from Nathania:
Cathie Myers, the Assistant Director of Humane Education at Best Friends, says," You need to be partners with the staff so that they are active participants in the program. The teachers should be listening, handling any behavior issues and enthusiastically supporting the program. One of the major tasks for pre-schoolers is to learn empathy for each other. This is a natural fit for pre-schoolers to learn about empathy for animals."Brain development:
The early ages are prime brain development and learning time. Young children are eager to learn about the world around them and their brains are very receptive. The brain is growing and changing. The next brain development time is in the teen years. So, I personally feel that spending time with young children to help provide positive experiences with animals is time well spent.
See also the guidelines from the National Association for the Education of Young Children www.naeyc.org and The Association for Childhood Education International www.udel.edu/bateman/acei.
Attend early childhood conferences and workshops in your area. Create partnerships with pre-school teachers. Many of them also have animals in the classroom. Your organization could be an asset towards helping them care for those animals properly. See the Pet Care Trust for more information about animals in the classroom. www.petsforum.com/petcaretrust
Classroom management:
The teacher must be in the classroom to handle behavior issues. Your representative is responsible for the presentation. The teacher is responsible for the students. Establish ahead of time that you expect the teacher to be in the classroom.
Activities:
Pre-school activities should be very interactive. A 15-minute presentation could include a flannel board presentation, an active game or song, a story and a brief (two minute) section from a video. Three- and four-year-olds need lots of activity because they have short attention spans. While they cannot be responsible for their pet's care, they can help with simple feeding. The classroom experience can acquaint them with the basics of animal care and that animals have feelings.
At Best Friends we do a five part series: 1) animals are wonderful; 2) animals have feelings; 3) domestic or wild; 4) safety with animals; and 5) animal care. We use brief clips from videos that show clear animal photography. For pre-school you will want to use only a minute, two at the most. We use big photos of animals. Pre-schoolers are learning about feelings so we continue that with animals. In the beginning we use puppets or large stuffed animals--not live animals. We only use live animals in the safety program. I encourage you to do multiple presentations.
Pre-school classes learn in units. Your organization can help set up the pet center in the classroom with books, videos, flannel boards that the kids can manipulate, stuffed animals or puppets, real animal care items, etc. This age learns by internalizing, so the more things they can touch and explore, the better.
Consult with someone about developmental appropriateness of your lesson plan. If you do not have someone on the staff that understands behavioral and cognitive development of the age or is willing to learn, don't do visits. Otherwise, you really will be just a babysitter and not a good one at that.
Family involvement:
The Helen Woodward Center in Rancho Santa Fe, California has a wonderful pre-school program at the shelter that involves the parents. The groups are small and the children are acquainted with many animals in the shelter. The program teaches the children and the parents. Programs at your shelter or a local library would be good.
Pre-school or kindergarten students do not tour the Sanctuary unless we have visited the classroom. Your shelter or sanctuary is not a petting zoo. If you have visited the classroom and participated in the units on animals or feelings, you can then empathize that in your tour.
Comment from Michelle:
Idea for humane ed training session: In a training session for several humane groups this weekend, the subject of humane education came up. We briefly discussed how you can convey sensitive messages about animal care to children -- for example, how do you discuss the bird and the bees with children to educate them about the importance of spay/neuter. A woman from Cat's Cradle in Harrisonburg, VA, had a great answer: When she's educating small children, she takes a basket with a stuffed animal cat family in it. She asks the children what happens when a mother cat and a father cat aren't spayed and neutered. Then, she pulls out multiple stuffed baby cats from within the basket. Then she does it again and again and again to show them how many cats can happen if the cats remain unaltered. Then she asks them where all these cats will go and tells them they all need good homes, but good homes are hard to find. Everyone at the seminar thought it was a great idea.Response from Nathania:
My caution on this is to know the community well and to be age appropriate. Young children are not developmentally prepared to understand these concepts. My experience has been that young children only think, "Wow, there are more baby animals!" and miss the point of the lesson. I would do this with students above grade three. There are some communities in Utah that I could not do this with at all.How do we take the humane ed message to adults?
Question from Michelle:
How does a person take the issues of animal care and behavior, spay/neuter, overpopulation, etc. to adults without offending them, especially when you care so much about some of these issues? Many adults often seem to take the attitude of "you can't tell me how to raise my animal". How does a person get around that? Moreover, how can we mainstream the message for individuals who really don't care about animal overpopulation, etc., to personalize these issues for them so that they will become a part of the solution whether they know it or not and whether they care to or not.Response from Nathania:
Most people do not want to be told what to do about anything. Our educational efforts in these situations are most effective if we encourage but don't demand.Why should the general public care about the issue of pet overpopulation? Only a small percentage of the residents of any community are responsible for animals that arrive at our shelters. Most people think that this is not their problem. They do not dump their animals. They go to the veterinarian. Why should they be involved? They have very busy lives and, in their terms, are meeting their responsibilities.
Also, remember that even within the animal welfare/animal rights movement, there is disagreement about many issues: feral cats, declawing cats (yes, there is disagreement), early-age spay/neuter, vaccinations, outside dogs, working dogs and so on. If we cannot agree on all issues, how can the general public be expected to understand what we mean by proper animal care?
Know your audience in the community. Children, educators, animal lovers, animal haters, people considering getting a pet, legislators, community business leaders, service groups, new immigrants, literacy classes, schools for teen moms, religious groups. Brainstorm with your organization about the diverse groups in your community.
Define the issues that you want to address. Animal care, shelter needs, pet overpopulation, adoptions, dog fighting, safety with animals. Again, brainstorm for the issues that are most relevant to your organization.
Look at your resources (you as an individual or a group): time, money, staff, volunteers. Do what you can reasonably do.
Match up the audiences, issues and resources.
For example:
I teach a class for teen moms on early childhood development, what is appropriate at each age for children and animals, how puppy proofing the home is the same as baby/toddler proofing the home - all are issues that are important to a young mom. This provides knowledge, encouragement, and relevance without demand.
Class for realtors about homes for animals, and how to arrange for pets in rental housing.
Talk to the local Rotary or Lions Club about projects that they can do to help your organization.
Talk to a local church children's group when they are talking about the story of Noah.
Educate the media about shelter issues.
Go to an adult literacy class for new immigrants. Tell them about your program, how you can help. Provide information in clear, simple language that will help them know what is available in the community.
Set up an animal care rack at your local library with brochures about various animal care issues.
Set up booths at festivals, gatherings of any kind, educational conventions. Provide good literature about animals.
Be the resource for animal care information in your community. Brainstorm and be creative!
Reaching out to males with a humane message?
Question from Crystal:
How can we reach out to men and boys? It seems to me that the humane movement is almost exclusively composed of women (and white women at that). I feel it is very important to reach out to men and boys and try to get the humane education message across to them, particularly where cats are concerned. Males commit something like 90% of animal cruelty acts. I also feel that restricting the humane movement only to women can be used to effectively trivialize it, i.e., "animals are soppy girlie stuff." How do we reach out to males and involve them without sounding like scolding schoolmarms or sob sisters?Response from Nathania:
What a great question! First, let me address the question of males and cruelty to animals. While it is true that 80--90% of cruel acts to animals are committed by males, it is NOT TRUE that 80--90% of males are lacking in compassion to animals. The majority of families in this country have some kind of pet at home and the men in the family also interact with the pets.
Secondly, let me address the assumption that involvement in the humane movement is a criterion for caring for animals. Some statistics: American pet owners spent $ 11 billion on their pets in 2001. According to an American Animal Hospital Association study, 74% of pet owners said that they would go into debt to provide for their pets. 400,000 pets have veterinary insurance provided by their pets. Businesses like PETsMART and PETCO would not go into communities if the general public did not spend money on their pets.
Just because men are not involved in large numbers in the humane animal movement does not mean that they are inhumane, nor does it mean that they are uninvolved in other humane causes like homelessness, poverty, Amnesty International or medical care for the indigent. When we equate working with animals as the only way to be humane, we as a movement trivialize other humane acts. The old adage " Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" holds true here as well.
Some of greatest leaders in our field have been the men of the community. Henry Bergh of the ASPCA is a notable example. In recent history, look at Michael Mountain, Gregory Castle, Richard Avanzino, Nathan Winograd and Dennis Stearns. These are wonderfully compassionate men who have helped change the animal welfare movement.
One of the difficulties in our field is that some women who run rescue groups refuse to look at a non-profit as a business. I have frequently heard comments like, "Oh, I can't be bothered with business. This is the work of the heart after all." If the rescue group is run unprofessionally, the businessmen in your community will perceive your work as sappy and ineffectual.
Truthfully, there are women in the movement who do not trust men, who like animals better than people, and think that only animals are important and not the community around them. This attitude never wins friends with men and boys.
Here at Best Friends we work a lot with teen boys from preparatory schools or from court-ordered restitution programs. These groups are among my favorites! (No, I am not crazy.) Some of the boys who come here are quiet, introspective and used to being around animals. Others have only known fighting dogs. One boy who visited us only had the experience of being cornered by police dogs. Our tendency is to lump all teen boys together and decide that they are rambunctious and unruly when, in reality, their life experiences are just as varied as ours. Is an African American teenager from the streets of Los Angeles the same as one from rural Southern Mississippi? Or, the one whose parents died from an overdose, or the one who is a jock, or who is a 'dork', or who grew up in a wealthy suburb?
There are some similarities in brain development and biology. Otherwise, each boy is very unique. The same is true for the men in your community.
Teen boys have a tremendous capacity for love and care of animals. They are just more used to suppressing that. Our society teaches them to not communicate their feelings.
We as educators are not always clear what we mean by words like compassion, caring, or empathy. A teen boy may express those values actively but not emotionally. For example, what is more compassionate: 1) a female feral cat caretaker who spends half an hour trying to coax an ill cat into a trap or a net so that they be treated (the cat is backed into a corner, terrified); 2) a male feral cat caretaker who just goes into the situation, nets the cat, treats it and lets it go. The whole situation takes 10 minutes. Of course, there is some room for discussion here. However, in the final analysis, the cat is traumatized for a shorter period of time by just getting in there, being practical and not emotional, and getting the job done. Sometimes practical is more compassionate than emotional.
Dr. Phil of Oprah fame loves cats. He talks often about his beloved cat. He is definitely not sappy in his approach to life's issues.
For more on this topic read "A Fine Young Man" by Mark Gurian, "Real Boys" by William Pollock, PhD, and "The Wonder of Boys" by Mark Gurian.
Here are my suggestions:
1. Be professional in your work. Run a good business whether it is a small foster program or a large humane society or animal care and control. Involve the businessmen in your community, professors at a local college, retired businessmen, and the husbands of your board members. Use their skills in building, accounting, marketing, and professional consultation.
2. Be involved in other coalitions in the community. Many of our community issues affect animals, such as poverty, transportation, violence, teen pregnancy, young families and housing, to name a few. Many of the leaders in the nonprofits or government agencies that relate to these issues are men. Be involved so that the people in your community know that you care about everything that goes on around you. We ask people to be patient, listen to the animals, observe what's going on and protect the animals. Is this not good advice for relating to the community as a whole?
3. Get to know the scouts, church youth groups, high school service clubs, rotary clubs (and other service organizations), boys and girls clubs. The boys and men that are involved in these groups are often very willing to help with projects for your shelter or rescue group. Ask for their help. They will become acquainted with your mission if you involve them in relevant activities. They do not need to become board members.
4. Look at your publications and educational materials. How do you define concepts like respect, compassion, kindness or caring? What do these look like? What do they sound like?
As an example of definition, one of the schools that I visit has a big sign that defines bullying. Bullying looks like pushing, shoving, patting on the head, etc. Bullying sounds like "You're stupid," "You're a retard," etc. The children are very clear what the school means by bullying.
There are extraordinarily compassionate men in our community that are loving fathers, mentors to young men, firefighters, EMTs, good businessmen, volunteer coaches, youth ministers, and youth leaders. Go where they congregate. Ask for their help.
Comment from Dorathy:
This is a great question and a wonderful answer. I showed dogs all over the East Coast and as far west as Kansas City for years. Many of the dog handlers who beat me soundly in the breed ring were men. Obviously, many of the K-9 officers who develop true bonds with their animals and depend on them as partners are men.Changing male perceptions about neutering animals
Question from Debbie:
I have a question regarding the previous post on males in the humane movement. One significant problem I see is the tendency among some men (I've seen this in trainers, men in shelters, the humane movement, vets, etc., as well as the general public) to feel that dogs (males, especially) should not be neutered because it "takes away the animal's 'manhood' and robs them of their masculinity". How do we deal with and try to change this attitude and perception?Response from Nathania:
This is more than a male/female issue. It is a cultural issue that has many different variations.Recently, I heard from a group that works with a Pacific Islander community that felt that the people would not spay or neuter their pets because of a belief that "what you do to the animals you do to yourself." This is a true
statement that we invoke all of the time when relating to the correlation between animal abuse and family violence. Yet, we dismiss an honest belief as superstition or belief in the occult.
In some communities, the females do not want to spay a pet because they feel that the animals want to have babies. Some English rescue groups will not adopt cats if you keep them indoors because they feel that the cats are healthier if they can go outdoors. Some farming families think city folk are really crazy to not let their animals outside. Here in Kanab, we often see dogs "going to Grandma's house." This is a time-honored tradition in this community. Sometimes we have to stop volunteers from 'rescuing' these animals.
I grew up in a family that had lots of animals, but not in the house. When I was a child I thought that animals always lived outside. Our family took care of the animals, fed them, provided shelter and vaccinations. I did not know about spay/neuter. Diseases like parvovirus were unknown until I was 25 years old or older. And we did not have a fenced in yard. I would have certainly been rejected as a potential adopter for one of our sanctuary animals.
If we are honest with ourselves, we all have had times in our past when we did not know everything that we needed to know about caring for animals. Perhaps we tied a dog to a chain, did not spay our female dog, or let a cat roam the neighborhood. How many of us lay people could answer complicated questions about animal behavior or even understand the complexities of animal biology? Why do we expect the general public to know all of the answers?
When we are relating to education in a multicultural context, we often look for easy fix answers. Education then becomes a confrontation between us (who have all of the answers) and them (who are poor ignorant inhumane people). Our concentration becomes distracted by our cultural stereotypes and we lose focus on the individual. While each culture has some common beliefs and attitudes, there is still a wide variation with the individuals.
So here are my tips for relating to other cultures:
1. Ask questions. Find out what "being compassionate" means to them.
2. Find out what they know about animal health and behavior. Provide
clear, accurate information. Teach the facts and the facts only.
3. Work with the cultural leaders. Most want their community to grow up
with values of kindness, compassion, respect and responsibility. Find out
what that means in relation to animals. The leaders in the community can be
involved in your work.
4. Be kind. We all bring our individual cultural history to the exchange.
5. Drop any attitudes that indicate that the other person or group is
wrong, inhumane, participating in the occult, or any other derogatory
thoughts. We cannot expect them to understand us if we are throwing daggers their way.
6. Remember that change happens. There was a time in the history of the
United States when women could not vote and people of color could not sit at
the same restaurant as a white person.
"Read to a dog" program for children
Question from Timothy in TX:
I am a member of the humane education program and we have come up with a program called "Read to a Dog." My first presentation is Friday at an elementary school. We talked about how it was to be structured and the formulated plan is to bring in a children's book which deals with humane issues (we have some, but any suggestions on how we can acquire more?) and divide the class into groups and have them read to a dog that I will bring (I have five of my own to choose from). Any suggestions/feedback on this set-up?Response from Nathania:
Intermountain Therapy Animals in Salt Lake City, Utah pioneered the Reading Education Assistance Dogs program. You can find out more about their work at www.therapyanimals.org. Their program works with children that have learning disabilities.You mentioned that you have five dogs at home to choose from. Have these dogs been temperament tested? Do you know that they can be quiet in this kind of situation? It is very important in these programs to involve dogs that we know are safe around children.
The American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals has a great online annotated bibliography of books for children. You can also look for the Henry Bergh Award books that are in their catalog. Their website is www.aspca.org for information on children, animals and literature.
Is bringing live animals to a classroom presentation a good idea?
Question from a Member:
I noticed in one of your comments you mentioned that you only use live animals in a safety program. We currently do humane ed visits to schools. I like bringing a live dog because the dog generally opens up communication right away. It helps us demonstrate to children how to properly approach, how to stay safe around animals, and how wonderful dogs can be. However, some people in our shelter are concerned about using a live animal for liability issues and also that it may be stressful for the animal. What do you think in general about bringing live animals into the classroom?Response from Nathania:
You've touched on several different aspects of bringing animals into a classroom: educational value, legal issues, welfare of the animals, safety of the classroom.Educational: Are you using the dog to replace a clear, concise, interactive lesson plan? Sometimes a live animal in the classroom can be a distraction rather than an asset. If the dog is moving around, the children may not listen to your presentation. You may also miss other ways of relating to the children: reading, interactive games, demonstration, music. These are all different ways of learning that are important to include in presentations.
When we have live animals for a presentation, our procedure is to have two people: one to do the presentations and one to relate to the animal. The animal is kept out of sight until the relevant part of the presentation.
We do not bring animals to every presentation and we find that the children learn very well. For some younger children, puppets or stuffed animals are great introductions to lessons. The animals can be brought in later.
Legal issues: Liability is always a concern in these situations. Is your animal temperament tested to know that it is safe in a classroom situation? Some organizations require that the educators only take their personal pets and that the pets are covered under personal insurance. This may avoid liability for the agency. You will need to check with your organization's insurance company.
Other organizations deal with this by having a group of animals that are temperament tested, known to be good with children and not stressed by the activities.
Here at Best Friends, we take animals that have been temperament tested by our trainer. The dogs are then taken into a variety of situations to see if they can handle large crowds, groups of people crowding in on them, noises and other events that might occur in a classroom. We do all of this before the animal goes to the classroom. We also ask permission from the teacher to bring an animal to the classroom.
Welfare of the animals: This is an absolute priority. Shelter animals that have just arrived are not good candidates for school visits, puppies and kittens included. It creates too much stress for the animals and can bring on illnesses. Puppies and kittens need to be protected for their own sake--at least until they have completed their vaccinations.
If the dog, cat, or other creature has been with you for a few weeks and is temperament tested, then the visits to the schools can be a great part of the animal's socialization towards finding a new home.
Safety and health of the children: This is also a priority. Any animal that you take into a classroom must be known to be good with children. You as an educator must also have good classroom control so that the children do not crowd the animal. Ask permission to bring the animal into the classroom. The teacher should know if anyone is allergic to animals.
How can shelters involve kids in volunteer opportunities under 16?
Question from a Member:
At our shelter we always get a lot of requests from kids under the age of 16 who want to volunteer. Because of liability issues, our volunteer age is 16. We don't want to turn these kids away, but we don't know what we can have them help with. Do you have any suggestions?Response from Nathania:
This is a common situation with shelters. Some shelters have a policy of no one under 16 volunteering for any reason. Other shelters do not allow students under 16 in the animal areas, but they can help in other areas of the shelter. Sometimes they help with filing, stuffing envelopes for big mailings, sitting at the reception desk. One young lady set up the website for her local shelter and maintains the adoption photos. Some activities will depend on the age of the student. Younger students can make blankets for the shelter, post adoption photos in the neighborhood, help at your fundraising events.Junior Girl Scouts often help at our Super Adoptions. They cannot work with the animals but they can maintain the information booth and greet people when they are coming into the adoption event.
Some humane societies have internship programs for students under 16. They have to be willing to work in other areas of the shelter, attend classes and do projects for school before they are allowed to work with the animals.
The challenge is that the young people want to work directly with the animals. You will need to explain to them that there are many things that happen at the shelter that helps the animals--other than walking dogs or grooming animals. Look at our volunteer possibilities and see how you can include kids in other areas.
Also, I would check with your insurance company to see if young people volunteer with an adult if that changes your risk. Here at Best Friends we have families with children as young as 6 volunteering (on a case-by-case basis). We can do this because our animal population is pretty stable and we can set up areas, particularly at dogs, where we have temperament tested dogs. Children under 10 cannot walk dogs, but they can help brush dogs if an adult is with them at all times. So check with your insurance company. Under 16 with an adult might be different than under 16 without an adult.
Do men really account for such a high percentage of cruelty to animals?
Question from Dan:
In the message with the subject "Reaching out to males with a humane message", you state that "...it is true that 80 - 90% of cruel acts to animals are committed by males...". Would you please cite the source for that? In the shelter, I see many women dumping female or male dogs with puppies because it is cheaper than getting the dog spayed or neutered; women dumping cats and dogs because they are "moving"; on the new animal cop shows there are nearly as many women being arrested; and many newspaper articles talk about women abusing animals (the last one was a hoarder of cats, and I have one today of a woman who shot a puppy in the head when it walked into her yard in Oklahoma City). Not that men don't do these things (and they most certainly lash out physically with a kick or punch more often), but just because they may get the newspaper headlines (about dog fighting, for example), there are many kinds of abuse. The first step in communication may be not perpetuating stereotypes which may make any message you wish to get across too noisy to hear.Response from Nathania:
My statement was in response to comments about intentional cruelty. Statistically, males are overwhelmingly responsible for reported cases of cruelty involving intentional and extreme neglect. The percentages are closer together when the cruelty is hoarding and when animal cruelty is combined with domestic violence. (As a side note, women are about equal with men in elder abuse.)The unfortunate aspect of these statistics is that many people in the animal welfare movement extrapolate the data and then suggest that all men are cruel to animals. As my previous posting noted, I do not believe this to be true. In fact, I believe that most men that have companion animals in the home are great with them. I don't have statistical data to back this up. However, the reality is that stores like PETsMART and PETCO would not be thriving if the majority of pet owner/guardians in the community were cruel.
Women are certainly involved in bringing animals to a shelter, hoarding, and other activities that we in animal welfare would consider inhumane. The only data that I have seen related to animals being turned into shelters documents the cause but not the gender. I will do some research. If I find something, I will post it to the forum.
I agree with you that there are varying degrees of abuse and neglect. Certainly, we need to relate to those issues. However, for the general public, animal abuse and neglect are what they see in the headlines. Bringing animals to the shelter is more a family issue than a legal animal cruelty issue for the average person in the community.
The statistics below are based on intentional cruelty, extreme neglect, animal fighting, and hoarding.
Of 1,677 cases and 1,863 perpetrators analyzed in a Humane Society of the United States study:
56% of the cases were intentional
44% were extreme neglect
76% of all cases were male
92% of intentional cases were male
91% of fighting cases were male
62% of hoarders were female54% of neglect cases were male
48% of neglect cases were female
From the report: "Males perpetrators were involved in the majority of all animal cruelty cases as well as nearly all of those involving intentional animal cruelty and animal fighting."
Some sources:
http://files.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/2001AnimalCrueltyReport.pdf
http://www.animalsvoice.com/PAGES/invest/randour1.html
Nathania's additional comments related to males and cruelty
Comments from Nathania:
We have had several posts related to males and cruelty to animals. Dan made a good point that he sees women relinquishing animals at his shelter, sees animal cruelty case involving women on shows like those on Animal Planet, and sees headlines related to women as hoarders.So, let me be specific about the statistics and how we can relate all of this to different aspects of our educational outreach. The statistics that I quoted were related to intentional cruelty and extreme neglect as related to law enforcement.
Since this forum is about education, let's talk about education related to these statistics. Educational efforts related to violence in the community and violence to animals specifically could include collaborations with programs for at-risk teens (especially teen boys), domestic violence, and law enforcement. The SPCALA has an excellent intervention program for teens from high-risk
neighborhoods called the TLC program.
Here at Best Friends we involve many students (male and female) from court ordered restitution programs to participate in our Best Friends Youth Brigade. Glenhighland Farms rescues border collies and works with young people from the inner city. There are many model programs around the country that address violence in the community.
References:
www.HSUS.org First Strike program
www.americanhumane.org information on The LINK
www.latham.org clearinghouse on Human/Animal Bond, animal abuse/domestic violence correlation
All of these have excellent resources, information on coalitions, and data that you can share with your community.
While these statistics are relevant to violence in our communities, most of the animals relinquished to our shelters are not from these kinds of situations. They are usually for reasons that the family is moving, cannot cope with behavior of the animal, cannot afford a veterinary expense, or other similar reasons. These are certainly sad reasons to break the human/animal bond. They are not legally prosecutable animal cruelty and neglect. For most of the general public these are lifestyles issues and many people would not consider this cruelty. So, our educational efforts need to be clear about the difference between prosecutable animal cruelty and neglect and lifestyle issues. Otherwise you've lost your audience.
Animals relinquished to shelters:
In the studies that I have seen on why animals are released to shelters, the most significant characteristic was age (not gender). Sixty-two percent of those who relinquished animals were under 30.
From M.D. Salman, author of one of the studies, "Owners represented a broad range of age, ethnicity, education and income level indicating that continued efforts will be needed to reach wide and far into communities."
The national studies indicated many reasons that animals are relinquished to shelters, moving and behavior-related problems being some of the reasons given most often. From an educational standpoint, a survey of the shelters in your community would give you good data. A local community college could help with the survey. You would want to know why the animals are relinquished, some characteristics of the owners, and address. Each community is different. Your survey will help you target the segments of your population that need education.
You might find that among those relinquishing animals are: single women; men and women under 30; married women (bringing in the animals on behalf of the family); or some other combination. Your strategy for education would depend on the reasons that animals are arriving at the shelters and rescue groups in your community. Hard data is important. For example, if a large number of animals are coming from married women representing the family, you could have several options: school-based education, information booths at family-oriented festivals, presentations with women's groups, articles in the family section of the local paper, presentations to local neighborhood watches or housing associations, or kiosks at places women shop.
If the animals relinquished are from the under-30 age group, then you will need a different strategy and different questions. Are these animals coming from young families or from single adults? What are the problems?
For more information on the national surveys:
www.petpopulation.org/NCPPSP_highlights%20brochure.pdf
www.firepaw.org/wpsandc.html
www.petpopulation.org/statsurvey.html
www.actampa.com
www.critterchat.net/whyowners.htm
www.americananimalwelfare.com/overpopulation.html
Developing humane ed resources for Asian cultures
Question from Linda in CA:
My neighborhood is multi-ethnic; however, there is a high concentration of individuals from Asian countries. Many of these people are new to or completely unaware of the concept of spay/neuter and other modern trends of animal care. I am thinking of starting a humane education outreach group that can visit schools, recreational facilities, and other groups and organizations. My target audience would be adults and children--wherever I can build awareness about how to treat animals, emphasizing spay/neuter and dangers associated with letting animals wander the streets.Do you have any tips about how to start such an organization in my area? Any ideas about funding sources, how to determine the level of interest for such a program, and what kind of group might be a potential candidate for a "pilot" program?
Response from Nathania:
Make friends in the community. Visit religious organizations like Buddhist temples or Asian Christian congregations, and schools that have a lot of Asian students.As a humane educator, you cannot expect to understand all of the cultural stories and beliefs of the different Asian communities. However, the Buddhist tradition has a long history of compassionate teachings, so allies in that community would be helpful.
Teach the facts. Teach the biology and behavior of animals. Avoid indicting the cultural beliefs.
Some resources for working with the Asian community:
Asians for Humans, Animals and the Earth, Vicky Lynn, founder
www.ahan.org/ahan/pages/index3.htm
(415) 221-5733 ext. 3
Bilingual materials:
In Defense of Animals
www.idausa.org/vh/heavenearth.html
San Francisco SPCA
www.sfspca.org
(415) 554-3000
Contact Francy Blackwood 415-901-6652 for information on the campaign related to the live animal market in SF.
Native American reservations and animals
Question from a Member:
On a recent vacation we were traveling through two Native American Reservations and were very upset seeing all of the stray dogs. Many were pregnant, emaciated, looked like they had mange, and we saw many dead and injured on the streets. We wanted to round up all of the dogs and take them out of there but know we can't. How do we balance respecting different cultures with wanting to help these animals?Answer from Nathania:
What a good question! I love working with the Native American communities here in the Southwest. I visit several communities on the Navajo Nation and work with the schools and with the Boys and Girls Clubs.I do not know which communities you visited, so I will address my experiences on the Navajo Nation.
Animal control: The Navajo Nation does not have animal control in the way that you would expect in a city. So, there is usually not a local animal control officer who goes around every day and picks up stray animals or animals that have been hit. Sometimes there are only a few animal control officers for the entire Nation with a population of nearly 200,000 and a land area covering Northern Arizona, Northwestern New Mexico, and parts of Southern Utah. If you did not have animal control in your area, you would see many of the same situations. These are common all over the country, in urban and rural areas. The general public just does not see them.
Some of the stray dogs are not stray at all. If you see one on or near a main road, it might be a herding dog. If you see it at the local grocery store, it might belong to a family nearby. There are laws that allow herding dogs to roam free. While there are laws about loose animals, there are not enough animal control officers to cover the entire land area. They are often involved with serious situations like packs of dogs that are attacking people or herds, illnesses with livestock, or other animal issues.
Navajo Veterinary Services in cooperation with Rural Access to Veterinary Services and Spay/Neuter Assistance Program are sponsoring thirteen free spay/neuter programs this spring and summer. Plateualand out of Flagstaff also provides spay/neuter programs. There is also a Navajo Nation Puppy program that fosters puppies which are then picked up by Arizona Humane Society and adopted in the Phoenix area.
The economic situation is severe. Many families in the outlying areas have no running water, no electricity, and no phones.
Veterinary services are limited. There is a clinic in Shiprock, Chinle, Window Rock and Tuba City. Otherwise, people will have to travel long distances to clinics outside of the Nation. There are mobile clinics that come to some of the communities.
As in any community, there are people that care for animals and those that do not. Because you see some dogs that are not cared for does not mean that everyone in the area treats their animals badly.
My point in all of this is to not assume that what you are seeing is merely a cultural issue as it relates to Native Americans. Much of what you saw on your trip you could see in any impoverished rural community in the United States where there is little money and few services.
There are cultural differences and that is a long discussion.
Yes, I also want to pick up all of the dogs myself. So, I visit the schools and the Boys and Girls Clubs and work with the families and the kids. I participate in conferences about domestic violence and education and attend Pow Wows - whatever I can do to make friends in the community. Sometimes I am the only white face in a meeting. I have seen a lot of changes over the last ten years.
