World Animal Day celebrated at Petra – one of the 7 wonders of the world!

On Thursday 12th October 2017, we held our World Animal Day event at one of the schools near Petra. There are many working animals in Petra, mainly donkeys who carry tourists around the World Heritage Site of Petra – one of the seven wonders of the world.

The school is run for the local community by the Army Department of Education and attended by children aged between 6 and 12 years of age. The celebration started in the school yard at the beginning of the day. The opening ceremony was attended by the children, their teachers and senior staff from the army department. SPANA took the opportunity to talk about animal welfare in general and about the mission of World animal Day.

After the opening ceremony, twenty children who are members of the school’s ‘Animal Club’ attended a talk about the needs of animals and the importance of treating them with compassion. This was followed by an educational activity session during which we showed a series of photos and asked the children to say whether they agreed or disagreed with what was happening in each one. The children really enjoyed this activity and their reactions confirmed that our talk had had the desired effect. 

More activities followed in the SPANA garden where they helped remove the old flowers, bushes and trees.  The children dug holes for the new plants, planted and watered them. The children then drew and painted a mural of animals at work and how to protect and care for them.  It was a very successful day during which some of the children were lucky enough to win prizes of comfortable head collars for their donkeys and new school bags.