Crow was delighted to welcome a local school to the rehabilitation centre and give the children a real insight into what goes on. As they arrived on their coach, the group of grades four, five and six were taken into the educationcentre where they were given a presentation about what the organisation does. They all seemed to be immediately excited and ready for the day ahead as they took their seats ready to start the presentation.
The students were able to learn how to keep certain animals safer and how to act and respond when they feel like one is in danger around them. With lots of opportunities to ask and answer plenty of questions, the students became very involved with all of them wanting to become a part of the day. It was lovely to see a young generation of children all taking such a big interest in the centre and what it does for the animals. They all continued to stay involved throughout the whole presentation and offer their best input when required.
They were then given the opportunity to win prizes byanswering questions related to what they had learnt in the presentation. With almost every student raising their hands to answer the questions, it showed just how much they were enjoying themselves and how much they had learnt.
They were then taken on a guided tour where they were able to see a few of the animals that CROW cares for. They looked at themongooses, monkeys and were very excited to see the baboons. With the children rushing to look through the holes at the different types of animals, it was clear that they were all enjoying themselves, especially giggling at the baboons pink bums!
They were then introduced to one of our Tortoise where they learnt exactly how to determine the gender of the animal. Despite some of the students being a little nervous, they all got involved in touching the tortoise. The students were so excited and happy to be offered an experience like this one, that they were constantly asking questions about the animals. They were interested in why and how certain animals were taken into the centre and how CROW rehabilitates them.
The students then were given the chance to buy food and drink from the tuck shop and purchase souvenirs from our store to keep for them or offer to their family as presents. All the pupils from the school had the chance to chat away with each other and were keen to boast to their friends and their teachers about what they had learnt. They continued to giggle and laugh throughout the lunch break and were excited to finish so that they could continue with the day ahead. The majority of the children were buying the CROW wristbands and t-shirts. The school did a brilliant job in supporting the charity through their purchases, and also donating food thatwe could use to feed the injured and orphaned animals.
The pupils were then the first to see how our new cameras operate in the education centre. By placing cameras in some of the enclosures, the school were able to see some of the animals they would not have normally been able to see. The new pieces of equipment for the centre proved to be a success as the students all shouted a
nd pointed when the animals appeared. They were then given the chance to make food for the monkeys. The pupils got their hands dirty in making the food for the animals and proved to stay very sensible when they could have misbehaved with the task.
The pupils managed to successfully make food for the monkeys and helped us clean up afterwards to make sure wild monkeys weren’t attracted to the leftover pieces of food that was left.
As the day came to a close, it appeared that everyone involved with the day had an amazing time. With massive compliments from the teachers, and some of the children even offering hugs to the volunteers, we would be happy to welcome the highway college back to CROW again. Especially with the school coming during a relatively quiet period of the year for CROW, we look forward to seeing the school again soon, perhaps during a busier time where there will be even more to see and do.