VN March 2023

Vetnuus | Maart 2023 20 An initiative of the SOUTH AFRICAN VETERINARY ASSOCIATION Non-profit Company: 1998/016654/08 Non-profit Organisation: 000-234 NPO Public Benefit Organisation: 130001321 A veterinary company’s initiative to teach young children about empathy and compassion towards animals will not only benefit the animals but also the way the children treat each other, and the way they respond to their world as they grow older. The EberVet Petcare Group’s Community Impact Projects (CIP) programme recently targeted more than 200 Grade One pupils at Danie Ackermann Primary School in Somerset West. Veterinarian Dr Ingrid de Wet of EberVet Country Animal Clinic took her own dog Alvin to the school to demonstrate to the children how animals would like to be treated.“We helped the children understand that we are like animals and that they are like us, and we need to treat them with the same empathy and compassion and understanding. We believe that this in turn teaches children how to treat each other,” Dr Ingrid said. “We must not forget that the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow and the amazing thing about the human animal bond is the empathy and responsibility that it teaches us and particularly our children,” she said. Dr Ingrid’s secondary focus was to help the children read animals’ body language, in particular dogs, to avoid potential dog bites. The children were also schooled in rabies prevention as rabies is a growing issue in the Western Cape. “A very special moment was when one very frightened little boy named Alvin (the same name as my dog) got to accept that not all dogs are to be feared. By the end of our visit, he was feeding the dog treats.” The group also raised funds for animal-themed colouring-in books and crayons which were handed out to every child at the school. “The Grade Ones of today are going to be tomorrow’s changemakers. We like to believe that by sharing our knowledge with them they will think differently about animals and about each other,”Dr Ingrid said. The EberVet Group’s CIP programme hosts four community projects per year – educational, environmental, social, and animal. “Our company believes that we have a responsibility not only towards animals but to communities too; to assist where we can, to build and uplift,” said EberVet CEO Dr Hilldidge Beer. EberVet has three clinics and eight Vetshops in the Helderberg and Overberg, and also hosts CVC clinics across this region and in the Karoo several times a year. v CVC News I CVC Nuus Compassion starts with kids By Toni Younghusband