Chris Packham has joined forces with a national pet charity to encourage teachers and youth leaders to sign up to free classroom talks to create a future of compassionate pet owners.
The videos, which were recorded at the Blue Cross rehoming centre in Southampton with the charity’s new education ambassador, focus on teaching children in Key Stages 1 and 2 the Five Welfare Needs which includes aspects like suitable diet and environment, enrichment and companionship, as Chris explains below.
Chris also recorded a video featuring a case study to stimulate debate about responsible dog ownership to secondary school classes.
Chris said: “It is very important to me to be part of encouraging current and future pet owners to learn more about the needs of the animals that share our lives. I feel strongly that being able to engage children in the classroom can have a huge impact for the future and how they will safeguard and protect pets and other species. I was glad to be able to record these films for Blue Cross and hope our messages can help more pets through education.”
In 2017, Blue Cross reached more than 95,500 young people through 2,553 talks and delivered talks and assemblies to a range of age groups in both primary and secondary schools.
Kerry Taylor, Education Manager at the pet charity said: “Chris’s involvement in our education programme is invaluable to our charity as we know that these fantastic video resources will help us reach more school children, teachers and parents to help educate about how to keep pets healthy and happy.
“Many pets wellbeing does sadly suffer through people simply not knowing the five welfare needs and ensure they meet these for their individual pet. For example, poor housing and the wrong diet for small animals like rabbits and hamsters can have devastating consequences and we often need to help these pets at our charity as a result.
“With Chris using his passion and commitment for pets to join forces with Blue Cross we can reach as many children and teenagers as possible, we can improve the lives of both future pets and their owners, and stamp out cases of animal cruelty and neglect in the process.”