Animal Protection
On Saturday April 27, 2024, our WRN Kids outing was held indoors where we hosted World Animal Protection, an animal welfare non-profit organization active in over 50 countries around the world. They presented to us on the topic of exotic animals kept as pets and how this is harmful to animals, habitats and is sometimes illegal.
Before the presentation began, we played a fun game of Owl and Mice that involved dice and a lid and mice on string. It was challenging to watch for double dice and trap the mice under the lid.
Then Michele, Beth and David presented about wild animals being kept as pets.
We thought about and learned what makes an animal a good pet and why wild animals do not make good pets. Animals that are domesticated have lived with people for a very long time. These kinds of pets are dogs, cats and other common pets. Exotic animals are wild animals who do not normally live with or near humans. People cannot create the habitat these wild animals need to be happy and healthy.
We learned that each province in Canada has its own laws about what animals can be kept as pets and here in Ontario the province has passed that responsibility to municipalities. That means that which animals you can keep as pets depends on where you live in the province.
The best way we can help wild animals stay wild is by thinking carefully before buying a pet and by informing others about how wild animals cannot be happy when they are taken from their native habitat. When people know better, they do better.
We then made posters and talked about the message our posters tell. We are making a video about this information so we can share it with others who might not know about the problems of keeping exotic animals as pets.
Reported by Rachelle
