Animal care gets student approval

PET SUBJECT: Kristy Lentini from Gatton Veterinary Surgery with year seven students Alicia Stibbard and Patrick McCarhy from Our Lady of Good Counsel school as part of the Australian Veterinary Association Pets and People Education Program.

Sarah Keayes/Queensland Times

GATTON Veterinary Surgery employee Kristy Lentini loves animals big and small and is passing on her caring nature to school students.

Children at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Primary School in the Lockyer Valley yesterday had the pleasure of welcoming Ms Lentini and a pet dog to the school to learn all about how to care for animals.

Ms Lentini visited the school as part of The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) and a Lockyer Valley Regional Council campaign to deliver the AVA’s Pets and People Education Program, AVA PetPEP to schools in the Lockyer Valley.

The program is designed for students from prep to Year Seven to help them understand and appreciate their responsibilities towards pets.

AVA PetPEP’s education officer Roslyn Giles said the program encouraged the positive integration of pets into the community.

“Councils who offer their support, such as the Lockyer Valley Regional Council have done, are crucial in helping us to achieve this goal,” Ms Giles said.

“Animal visitors often come along to the school visit, and this gives the children a chance to satisfy a natural curiosity of interacting with an animal in a safe environment.”

Ms Giles said the PetPEP program reached more than 30,000 children at 400 schools with 17 councils across Australia participating in the program.

“There is a serious side to pet ownership, and we’re spreading that message,” she said.

To register your school to participate in the program phone 3423 1788.