The Cochrane and Area Humane Society is set to take on a new children’s program at the start of the new year.
Jaimie Anton, the society’s fund development officer, said the Critter Club is an opportunity to include children under the age of 13 – the current volunteer age minimum – and teach them essential animal knowledge.
“We have so many younger kids that want to be involved and want to do things for the shelter. So this is a really nice way to tap into their interests, get them thinking about it,” Anton said.
The program will be run in the rehabilitation and education centre, which is a building just behind the shelter building located at 62 Griffin Industrial Point.
The new program is in addition to a variety of kid-friendly initiatives at the facility including Friday night pyjama parties at the shelter, kids’ camps and opportunities for classroom presentations and scholarships.
Anton said they hope to teach everything from dog bite prevention to reptile and amphibian care and the children will even have hands-on opportunities with some of the animals at the shelter.
“We’re going to try and have different animal guests in all the time to cover all the different critters we’re going to be talking about,” Anton said.
The Critter Club is already gaining steam and the organization anticipates it being a popular program.
“We’ve had some people sign up already,” Anton said, adding the class sizes will vary, but generally will be kept to a maximum of 10 children per age group, per session.
“It will be a nice, manageable group where they can get lots of hands-on experience,” she said.
Anton said it’s important for future generations to understand how to care for animals, describing children as the Humane Society’s “little ambassadors.”
“They’re going to be sort of representatives of animal welfare and animal interests. So it’s definitely great to get them involved even at a younger age,” she said.
Alicia Ostrander of the Cochrane and Area Humane Society will be running the program and said she’s looking forward to having fun with the kids while teaching them a few skills along the way. She also hinted it may be a chance to groom future volunteers.
“Basically, what we want is it to be a really educational piece for the kids that are maybe interested in volunteering down the road.”
The club, which begins in January, will meet once a week on Thursdays, with the 7- to 9-year-old age group meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and 10- to 12-year-olds meeting from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m.
For more information visit www.cochranehumane.ca/kids-programs-education.
