Education & Awareness
Our Education and Awareness programme instructs both children and adults about a range of topics including compassion for animals, how to avoid dog bites, how to care for pet dogs, sterilization and neutering, rabies prevention and waste food disposal.
All of these act as preventative measures against future suffering and animal welfare issues, as well as making the city of Kathmandu cleaner and safer for both humans and animals.
As well as being very informative, our activities offer us the opportunity to connect with communities and promote a collaborative ethos of working with local people to solve problems together.
Activities
Some of the approaches covered by our Public Education & Awareness programme include:
- Visits to children’s homes and schools.
- Booths and tables with banners and educational displays at public functions.
- Participation in World Animal Day, World Rabies Day, and other related events and marches through the city.
- Tours and open days at KAT Centre for school groups and youth clubs.
- Putting up posters around Kathmandu informing people of dogs who are available for adoption at KAT and what we do for animals in need.
- Sharing valuable information about animal welfare and pet care through social media.
- Articles in magazines and newspapers, and television and radio appearances.
- Handing out leaflets about the street dog situation, KAT’s work to help stray dogs, and rabies awareness.
- Day clinics to give dogs anti-rabies vaccinations, de-worming, and medical treatment.
Our work in these areas is motivated by the fact that many adults and children in Nepal are unaware of the needs of their own pet dogs. We teach the importance of vaccinations for dogs, identifying and treating minor ailments such as mange, and the benefits of Animal Birth Control.
Schools
Nepal is a rapidly changing country and worldwide, advances in animal welfare are being driven by the younger generations. Children are the future guardians of our world and since children are also the most common victims of rabies, we focus many of our awareness activities on schools and children.
We visit schools directly to give presentations to students as well as invite smaller groups of schoolchildren to tour KAT Centre as guests.
Older secondary school and college students may volunteer at KAT as part of their work experience and public service roles.
All of our presentations are aimed at a younger audience and presented in simple English according to the abilities of the particular age group we are addressing. Key points are also interpreted into Nepali by our staff to ensure that every child understands the message. Questions are asked throughout to make the experience fun and interactive, as well as to get feedback about what the children currently understand.
We are always taking note of current affairs and monitoring important issues that we might need to address. Although our presentations are designed to be fun, we want the information to stay with at least the majority of them because one day it may even save their lives.
