Pupils learn how to care for pets

By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
When the woman stood before the chalkboard and asked pupils how many of them had pets at home, a forest of young arms arose.
Connie Doskocil, Salem Humane Society shelter director, knew then that her eighth-grade audience at Salem Junior High School would likely be receptive to her message about the need to properly care for animals.
In fact, it was junior high youngsters who were partly responsible for her being at the school Monday as part of a classroom education program the humane society is undertaking.
Pupils in Kim Strum's eighth-grade class had recently taken in a stray kitten that had shown up outside the school, only to be kicked by a youngster before being rescued.
Heard about kitten
Word of the cat's presence at the junior high and its initial ill treatment reached the humane society. The agency helped find a home for it; officials there also pondered the case.
The group had long been weighing creation of a classroom program, and the stray-kitten episode indicated the need for it.
The agency made its first presentation to Salem junior high pupils.
The group will be speaking at Columbiana Junior High Feb. 28 and to a Salem High School special needs class March 8. Any teacher interested in having the group speak may simply call and ask.
"The more you educate the public, the less problems we'll have," Doskocil said after her talk.
Nearby, pupils were passing around a Snoopy dog dish filled with Hershey's foil-wrapped kisses that had been brought as treats for the youngsters.
The humane society's theory is that its classroom presentations will help children become more responsible pet owners and that they'll take the message home.
Doskocil's advice wasn't lost on her young audience.
"If I see a stray dog or cat, I'll turn it in," Amanda Wardell said afterward. She said she's also going to tell her uncle, who keeps a dog outside, to be sure to make certain he refills its water dish frequently.
Dogs and cats "can get different diseases if they don't get fixed," Mason Dow said he learned during the presentation. Dow noted that his dog died several months ago of cancer.
Strum said some pupils in her class were so taken by the stray kitten's plight that they've started volunteering at the humane society's South Ellsworth Avenue shelter.
There, they caress and snuggle cats that are being put up for adoption. The care trains the felines to be more used to people and will make them better pets that are less likely to be abandoned.