The Society has a full time Education Department that offers a free education service to anyone interested in animal welfare and pet care. Animal cruelty is usually the result of ignorance and the Dublin S.P.C.A. believes that education is the key to preventing future cases of animal cruelty and neglect.
The Dublin SPCA offers a wide range of education services to suit all ages and levels of ability. We offer tours of the Animal Centre to schools and groups including pre-school groups, with visits taking approximately 1½ hours. This time includes an introductory video and discussion session in our lecture room followed by a tour of the centre including the cattery, dog kennels, small animals, horse stables, paddocks and wildlife rehabilitation section.
We are also happy to pay a visit to your school where we will give an in-class talk. We can work with all ages of students and are happy to create an age/ability appropriate session tailored to your group’s interests. We can work around any Civics, Social, Political, Science and Career Guidance subjects in Secondary school or the “Myself and the Wider World” strand of the S.P.H.E. and S.E.S.E. curriculum in Primary schools.
Popular topics for Primary school groups to date include: Responsible Pet Care (focusing on common household pets such as dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, budgies, etc.); Responsible Horse Care; Exotics as Pets (snakes, lizards and parrots); The Inspectors & their job; Animal Ambulance Drivers and their work; Nutrition – correct food your pet; Preventative medicine – Vaccinations, Worm & Flea Treatment & Neutering your pet; Litter and how it can hurt animals; Mini-Beasts in the garden– Friends of Foe.
For the Secondary schools we cover similar topics with a more grown-up approach and can include topics such as Spaying & Neutering your pet; Farm Animal Welfare; Careers with Animals; Ethics and Animal Welfare: Animal Testing; Hunting with dogs, Fur trade, etc.; Animals in Entertainment; Transportation and Containment of Animals; Cruelty-free shopping.
If you would like more information or to book a talk or tour please contact Gillian on 01 4935502 or email education@dspca.ie. Please check out our website for lots of printable education material and for more information.