Do you know how a chicken takes a bath? They dig shallow ditches in soil, mulch, sand, and even pine shavings, then toss dirt and dust onto themselves to clean their feathers. Chickens do this several times throughout the day and will attempt to clean themselves even if there is no dust or dirt around.
This is one way chickens express their normal behavior.
Over this past weekend, children ages 5-13 got together in Los Cocos, Nicaragua to learn about the Freedom to Express Normal Behavior, the 4th Liberty of Animal Welfare. Using Global Strays’ own curriculum, staff emphasized that every animal has a right to live and act in its natural and instinctive ways, just like a chicken.
For the workshop's engaging activity, each group of students chose one animal and made a poster explaining how it expresses its normal behavior.
Greysi, Dievoni, and Suleth painted this beautiful dolphin and wrote: “Swims a lot, comes to the surface, eats fish and is friendly” as its normal behavior.
Jasser, Henry, and Emmanuel chose a red snapper and wrote “The fish swim at the bottom of the sea” as their normal behavior.
To end the workshop, each student made dog toys out of a sock and tennis ball to take home to their own pets.
Like Robert (pictured here), students were excited to take their toys home to play with their dogs.
Held monthly, these workshops engage students in fun and creative ways to teach them the Five Liberties of Animal Welfare. Global Strays’ curriculum is used in underserved communities to teach the lasting impact of animal welfare.
To see the PowerPoint slides from this last workshop click here. Keep an eye out for our next newsletter as students take part in the fifth and final lesson.
