Animal Club discussed cage hens and eggs at their meeting today.  The children talked about the differences in free range eggs and cage eggs, why there was a distinct price variance and why people should buy either.  Many understood why the price for free range eggs were higher but thought that if more people bought them and created more demand, the free range eggs would eventually be more affordable.  Quite a few children’s families already use free range eggs only and some were unsure which eggs were used at home but would go home and find out.  It was mentioned that the Emanuel School canteen and D&T kitchen only use free range eggs.

An activity was carried out where a volunteer child was asked to remove her shoes and stand on a milk crate for about 10 seconds, while four of her friends stood around her, forming a “prison”.  The child told the group that it made her feel very uncomfortable and she couldn’t imagine standing like that for more than a minute.  The children tried to understand what it would be like for a hen to be caged like that for the rest of its life.  They were unanimous in supporting free range eggs and were very keen to visit a free range farm. 

Hi, we are two Year 5 CHPS Animal Club Leaders and will be telling you about the special visitors to our Animal Club meeting on Wednesday 2nd of May.

We had a nice lady called Glenda come and visit us and she was from the Darling Range Wildlife Shelter.

She brought a bob tail goanna in. Glenda found him on the side of the road, injured. She also told us about how to take care of lizards, and how to hold a goanna safely.

Then Glenda showed us a bottle with a dead tick, just before it was about to give birth (Gee how big can they get!).  

She also brought in Bluey, a red joey kangaroo, and she let him hop around the class. (He left a tiny surprise!)  THEN, she made things a lot more interesting by bringing in a grey joey kangaroo called Isaac.  He was really shy, not like Bluey.

Glenda from the Darling Range Wildlife Shelter
speaks to CHPS Animal Club

At the end of the meeting, Glenda told us about Emu feathers and how they are special because they split in two.  Then she gave all the animal club members their own feather to keep.  They are really soft and fluffy.

We would like to say a special thank you to Glenda, we had a lot of fun when you came to see us.

Animal Club members getting close and personal with some snake friends

On Tuesday, the first of May 2007, Yuluma Primary School had a visit from Karen (The Snake Lady) and unexpected friends.

With her, she brought two native Green Tree Frogs, two Dragons (Lizards), Blue Tongues and how could we forget? SNAKES! One of the main attractions of the presentation was Jaws a friendly carpet python. Before we held the reptiles, we had to put on an anti-bacterial liquid type of soap.

After that we had the opportunity to hold the Snakes and Lizards. Some people held Snakes around their necks and arms, but some others were quite scared. Other attractions of the show were Morphious, the Stimpy's and Angel (the largest snake) The Lizards names are Pig and Leroy. When the year 7's had their session, Leroy made friends with Jon-Luke (one of the year 7 students) after crawling under his legs and nuzzling up to him.

After Karen's visit more students are less terrified of reptiles than what they were before. We had a great time and we learned a lot about these fascinating reptiles. We'd like to thank Karen for giving Yuluma Primary School a wonderful presentation.

Written by the year 7 team of Jeremy, Drew, Mithila and Gihan

Every Friday in Term 2 (May to July 2007) we screened an animal movie during recess and lunchtime, charging 50c per student to watch.  The proceeds raised are for the Hahndorf Interim Animal Shelter.

Club Leader, Fiona Challen's Animal Club folder

On Monday 30 April, Animal Club had a visit from Angela Spears, the Education Officer for RSPCA NSW.  Angela explained the role of RSPCA in our society and briefly discussed skills needed to be a responsible pet owner.  Animal Club was interested in sending a team of members to the RSPCA’s Million Paws Walk and Angela helped answer some of our questions about the event.  She mentioned that pet owners were encouraged to bring their pets to the venue but must bear in mind that there would be hundreds of dogs at the walk so bringing a cat may not be the best idea!  Some shelter dogs would also be present at the venue and available for walks by volunteers without dogs.  Key features of the day would include 3km and 5km walks with pet and people water stops, mini pet expo, rides, activities and live entertainment.  The children were enthused and Animal Club have registered to send a team of 13 children and 12 adults to the Million Paws Walk to be held on Sunday 20 May.