As Cruelty Cases Rise, PETA Fights for Kids’ Hearts

Emphasizing Empathy, Battling Big Ag, Kicking Animal Dissection to the Curb

The incidents are disturbing. A young person in Texas was caught on video beating a family’s dog while others watched and recorded the attack. Two teens in South Dakota laughed as they intentionally plowed into a pregnant cow with their car, causing injuries so severe that she had to be euthanized. Whenever PETA hears about a cruelty case like these, we rush humane education kits to local school districts so they can teach their students that every sentient being – whether a classmate or a cow – deserves empathy. We also sent thousands of copies of Unlocking the Animal World – a kids’ version of Ingrid Newkirk’s book Animalkind – to public libraries in states with the most cases of cruelty to animals committed by young people, ahead of their summer reading programs.

Compassion can be cultivated, and – from Miami to Mumbai – PETA entities are planting the seeds that will instill empathy and kindness in the next generation.

A Mooving Experience

The meat, egg, and dairy industries are now propagandizing in our schools, sponsoring lesson plans that ask students to design new breeds of cows and distributing bingo-themed worksheets promoting beef! But they can’t win against our life-size talking animatronic cow, Carly. She’s one of PETA Kids’ ambassadors, and children love her. She visits elementary schools across the US to awaken children’s compassion for all sentient beings – and to combat the lies being force-fed to them by Big Ag.

Meanwhile, the US government mandates that public schools serve cow’s milk at mealtimes – even though young people are increasingly rejecting dairy. Gen Z has been dubbed the “Not Milk” generation, and 79% of Gen Zers regularly opt for meat-free meals. Carly has visited more than 200 schools and youth programs, showing kids who cows are and giving many their first taste of vegan ice cream. In the US and India, life-size mechanical elephant Ellie also wows kids at schools and summer programs as she explains how she was rescued from a life of giving rides and performing tricks.

Standing Up for Students’ Rights Not to Harm Animals

PETA’s TeachKind Science division provides educators with vastly superior alternatives to animal dissection, including realistic frog models and state-of-the-art eMind digital dissection software, revolutionary teaching tools that have been praised by teachers. Following a push from PETA, growing numbers of school districts have implemented policies that allow students to opt out of animal dissection. TeachKind also offers in-person presentations and humane education materials in multiple languages that teach students about kindness and the Golden Rule. TeachKind’s “Share the World” primary school kit was even added to Discovery Education’s digital platform for schools.

For all problematic activities – from aquarium field trips to chick-hatching programs to classroom “pets” (we suggest that classes cultivate plants instead) – PETA provides kind choices and the resources that teachers and students need in order to embrace them.

Help Kids Help Animals!

Are you a child’s parent, guardian, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or friend? Here’s what you can do to help:

• Print PETA Kids’ coloring and activity sheets.
• Give children books and uplifting videos with animal-friendly messages and chalk to write messages about being kind to animals.
• Bake vegan goodies together to give to friends and neighbors.
• If you’re in the US or Canada, help kids sign up to become a PETA Kids member.

Teachers Without Borders

When PETA Germany began its program to help animals in Romania – which has the highest population of homeless animals in Europe, with laws to protect them rarely enforced – the group immediately saw the need to introduce a humane education curriculum. Dogs in Romania commonly wander or are chained without basic care, but through PETA Germany’s inspiring presentations, more than 20,000 young people have learned how to tend to animals’ needs.

At spay-a-thons held in Mexico by PETA and PETA Latino, families are treated to delicious vegan lunches and kids receive fun educational booklets and stickers. Similar events held in the Philippines by PETA Asia provide vital services in impoverished areas, including a cemetery that many people and their animals call home. It’s often the first time the animals have seen a veterinarian and the first time families have received information on treating animals respectfully.

As veterinarians at the PETA-supported clinic in Petra, Jordan, treat suffering donkeys forced to haul tourists, they frequently encounter school-age handlers. Copying what they’ve seen adults do, children may drive the animals to exhaustion even when they are lame or have gaping wounds. The vets devised “donkey smile” competitions to teach children to see animals as individuals. Handlers whose donkeys have the highest body scores win prizes. The competitions have gotten results, and kids are now educating adult handlers. When Javed won, he refused his prize – a warm winter coat – instead choosing a soft harness and padding for his donkey.