The Hayot Animal Shelter on Friday (November 18) conducted Kindness to Animals Lesson in the Tashkent school of Mirzo Ulugbek district. This activity has been running by pound since 2018, when it was first established, the founder Iroda Matkarimova told the Daryo correspondent.
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‘We visit all schools with our dog Michelle. Previously we were the ones to suggest school principals invite us to a class hour. Now, the school principals have requested us to come, and we are booked for November. December is also packed. All schools want to get a sticker confirming that their pupils did attend the Kindness to Animals Lesson by Hayot Pound’, Iroda Matkarimova said.
Hayot Animal Shelter's founder notes that adults are responsible for teaching their children to be kind to animals and explaining to the new generation the importance of extending compassion and empathy to other living beings.
‘Our school activities help develop and maintain a culture of kindness in children towards animals. For instance, in one of our lessons, a boy surrendered a slingshot, saying that his grandfather gave it to him to shoot at cats, but he refuses to commit cruelty to animals as he is now mature enough to understand it is all wrong. Another boy who used to be indifferent to animals, according to his mother, now protects animals in his neighborhood. So our efforts bear fruit’.
Iroda Matkarimova said Hayot also helps local neuro centers run zootherapy programs for special children.
‘One of the girls we teach did not speak for seven years. The first word she pronounced after our lessons was ‘kuchuk’ (‘a dog’). It's nice to know that all efforts are not in vain. We want to legitimize all our school activities. I've submitted a corresponding application to the Ministry of Public Education. To date, more than 15,000 children have attended our lessons. Some schools keep inviting us over and over again. We also run these activities in our pound and travel to the regions across the republic. So far, we have visited Chirchik, Almalyk, Gulistan, and Urgench’, the founder of the Hayot animal shelter stressed.
‘I would also like to mention the Mushukent project as we are now building cat booths and running a program on sterilization and castration. We cooperate with the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Tashkent and the Republic of Uzbekistan National Guard. We aim to sterilize as many stray cats as possible and return them to their environment’.
More on this subject:
MP Elena Babenko suggests abolishing animal trapping services in Uzbekistan
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