On the 20th of January, our campus had some very special visitors! Dogs and one adorable rabbit from a local animal shelter brightened our wintry campus as part of a ‘Dog Day’ organised by the Animal Protection Project (APP) CAS group.
Zoe (Class of 2018, Cayman Islands) shared that the group wanted to organize this event on campus because they had noticed how there were some misconceptions about how dogs, especially shelter dogs, behave. “The goal was to bring dogs to campus and allows students to interact with them to decrease their stress, as well as listen to a presentation by a local organization on how to treat dogs and to decrease any stigma around them. Shelter dogs are not necessarily ‘bad’ dogs, and they dogs deserve the same love as pets!” she added.
Hello Animal, the local shelter, started off the event by explaining how to best approach dogs to avoid alarming them before allowing some time for personal interaction between the students and the animals. At the end, the dogs put up an adorable show, delighting the audience with their wonderful tricks!
All in all, the event was a success for all involved, whether animal lovers or not. Priya (Class of 2019, India) participated in Dog Day although she was initially afraid of dogs due to an unfortunate incident that happened when she was younger. She expressed after the event that being around the shelter dogs helped her to build the courage to get closer to them, and hoped to have future Dog Days on campus.
“We would love to see more CAS projects focusing on animal protection, as many students love dogs, cats and more! There is definitely room to do so given the numerous charities and organizations that have been so receptive to APP, and we hope that their work continues to be fruitful.”
– Zoe (Class of 2018, Cayman Islands)
