Petition to Educate Children on Animal Cruelty

To: Sara Green, Principal of Joaquin Miller Elementary School  

Physical abuse and violence towards animals is illegal in all 50 states, but the issue still continues. While many think that adults are the main abusers of animals, it’s the children we need to worry about. Children who witness abuse become less sensitive to violence and the ability to empathize with the victim of abuse. Abuse is often cyclical and the only way to stop the cycle is intervention; the earlier the intervention the higher rate of success.

We demand for all teachers in Joaquin Miller Elementary School to educate their students on a one week long, 30 minute presentation about animal cruelty. They would be provided with workbooks and picture books on information of animal cruelty, having new daily engaging activities. The presentations should explain how animal abuse affects both animals and a child’s future; in particular, it would show images of animals that have recovered from abuse, to show empathy and make the children share feelings with the animals (understanding how animal cruelty is unfair.) We also want teachers to teach children about Domestic Violence is a root cause of Animal Cruelty. The goals of our actions are to teach the youth how to be a responsible pet owner to stop the cycle of violence. If the child is in a situation of animal abuse, then we hope that through this presentation, the child would know who they could go to for help. We hope that children will grow up into being passionate about animal rights and teach the children of the next generation how to properly treat an animal.

Paulina Lara (pauham2010@hotmail.com) & Sherry Huang (sherryhuang03@gmail.com)