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The Animal C.A.R.E. Club at Sweetwater Union High School in National City, California was recently selected as the 2009 Humane Society Youth Club award winner by the The Humane Society of the United States. The award honors a K-12 youth club that has made a significant contribution to animal protection. The club has a growing membership of about 100 students and works to educate their classmates and community about animal cruelty. For instance, recently they aired a PSA on dogfighting from The Humane Society of the United States for the entire school. The message was a powerful one for young people who live in a community where fighting and chaining dogs is considered acceptable by many residents. Here are some other amazing things they've done:
- Hosting SNAP (Spay Neuter Action Project) on campus. Approximately 200 dogs were spayed and neutered for free or at low cost.
- Organizing and promoting a free veterinary clinic where dogs and cats are seen by a vet, vaccinated and licensed for free.
- Protesting a mall pet shop on Saturdays to educate the public about puppy mills.
- Letter-writing campaigns, including recent letters to Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign bills to ban cow tail docking and to support puppy mill legislation.
- Fundraising for favorite causes such as the Baja Animal Sanctuary in Rosarito, Mexico.
- Advocating for the harbor seal colony living in La Jolla, CA.
Props to you, members of the Sweetwater Union High Animal C.A.R.E. Club! Just think about all the animals and people this small group of teens has impacted (and the great friendships that were probably forged in the process). And to all of our IML'ers: is there anything like this at your school? If not, could somebody start one? Even if you can't start a whole club, there's lots that one or a few individuals can do to make a difference for animals; read all about it in our Pets section.
You can learn more about the Animal C.A.R.E. Club and other youth groups at www.HumaneTeen.org.
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Here's a
kinda-sad, kinda-scary factoid: today's kids spend twice as much time indoors
as their parents did. Considering your mom and dad didn't have computers, video
games, or a thousand TV channels at their disposal, that sounds about right.
These things are cool and often valuable additions to our lives, so does it
matter if we're not outdoors as much as we could be? According to the National
Wildlife Federation, that means we're losing a connection to the natural world
that can benefit our minds and bodies as well as school performance and family
togetherness.
The NWF wants you to get out of the darn house, so they've teamed with the upcoming feature film "Where the Wild Things Are" to launch Be Out There™, a national campaign to get families and kids to spend daily time outdoors for their health, happiness and well-being. Directed by Spike Jonze and based on Maurice Sendak's classic book, "Where the Wild Things Are" is the story of a young boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to the island of the Wild Things. Be Out There™ aims to show kids how they can connect with nature in their neighborhoods, schools, and communities, and view the outdoors as a play space where it's ok to just be - free to imagine, discover, and daydream.
You can visit www.BeOutThere.org to get ideas for outdoor fun, download a National Wildlife Federation "Where The Wild Things Are" poster, and find out how to be part of National Wild Rumpus Day.
Do you think you spend enough time playing outside? What's your favorite outdoor game or activity (that's not a sport)? Tell us, and maybe it'll inspire other IML'ers to create a wild rumpus!
Animals are amazing, and most IML'ers think so too! That's why there's a whole section of our Web site devoted to Pets. Pets teach us how to care for others and be responsible; give us unconditional love (and stress relief) when we need it; and sometimes, help bring our families closer together. You can probably tell from our Pets section that we feel passionately about the importance of spaying and neutering your pet, and adopting pets from shelters or rescue groups. That's because pet overpopulation causes tens of thousands of adoptable pets in the U.S. to be destroyed EVERY SINGLE DAY.
