Animal welfare an instinct at Fernvale
12 November 2009
By Rebecca Perry
RSPCA's Laurie Stageman and mascot Maddie with Fernvale State School students Serge Garcia and Monica Ogg. Image: Rob Williams/The Queensland Times.
With classrooms full of wannabe wildlife rescuers and veterinarians, you can be forgiven for thinking youngsters at Fernvale State School, near Ipswich, are emulating Diego - television's animated animal advocate.
But it is a real-life hero from another television show, RSPCA Animal Rescue, in whose footsteps they most want to follow.
In what is thought to be a Queensland first, Fernvale has 'adopted' the show's Laurie Stageman as an RSPCA officer so children can learn how to care for animals, a skill spreading throughout the school's semi-rural environment.
Principal David Raine said the school had first started working with the RSPCA a few years ago when some boys were disciplined for animal cruelty.
'Now we have developed a real culture where children are very conscious about caring for animals and some are even reporting their concerns when they believe an animal isn't being looked after properly,' Mr Raine said.
Along with the school's adopt-a-cop and paramedic, Mr Stageman and his rescued dog Maddie - a Pomeranian who has become the program's mascot - are sharing life-changing lessons with students.
'They are our next generation and we have to pass onto them the animal welfare message,' Mr Stageman said.
'The kids are very perceptive and when I have told them the stories of my work you can see in their faces how much it concerns them.
'When I was growing up, dogs used to be kept on chains and I use to hear of kids hurting animals and I hated it.
'People can still be incredibly cruel to animals but these children are learning that neglect cannot be tolerated and if they have a pet, it is part of their family.'
Mr Stageman hopes other schools will take up the program.
Other languages