January 2011

The latest Bark! magazine is on its way to your school library. In this issue keeping pets safe during the cold winter season is featured. You will also meet some kids from around the province who came up with some very creative ways to make a difference for animals in our High Paws section and check out the young wildlife photography winners.

Students will enjoy this colourful, informative magazine that they can reference for projects or read at their leisure.

Look for this issue in your library or order a class set of this issue by email. Include your name, number of students, grade, school name and address and we’ll package them up and send them off to your class.

Fight for Life
by Laurie Halse Anderson

Age level 10+

Kids in Maggie’s school think that living at the Wild at Heart Animal Clinic is pretty cool. She thinks so too but her grandma, the vet who owns the clinic, wants Maggie to make school work her first priority, not the animals.

But when the clinic takes in several very sick puppies, all of whom came from the same local farmers market, Maggie decides she has to put a stop to this. Even though her grandma has cut Maggie’s time in the clinic dramatically until her grades improve and taken on several new volunteers to take over Maggie’s duties, Maggie makes finding the puppy mill owner a priority.

This is a great novel for any students who love animals. It is the first in a series of books about young vet volunteers

Find more BC SPCA book recommendations online.

Start the New Year with a plan. Coordinate your club animal themes with the BC SPCA. In February the BC SPCA promotes spay/neuter initiatives. In March we will focus on small animals. In April when spring arrives, we will feature articles on wild animals. May is “Be Kind to Animals” month and we will be promoting adoptions. And June is when we start getting overwhelmed with kittens so we will focus our efforts on them.

Don’t forget to send us in pictures of your projects so we can put them up on our website as well as enter your club into the draw for some cool club prizes.

Charges have been laid after animals were seized from a Duncan farm in June and again in November. Horses, goats and llamas were taken into care by the BC SPCA after a warrant had been issued to the guardian to improve conditions on the property and provide necessary veterinary treatment. The animals were exposed to snow, rain and freezing temperatures without proper shelter as well as a myriad of other animal welfare issues.

The animals are now in the care of the Cowichan Branch of the BC SPCA and some of the animals are ready to be rehomed.

Learn more about this news item and other BC SPCA news that you may want to include in class discussions.

Photo caption: Polly, a 20-year-old mare seized on June 29, is still awaiting a permanent home.