ANIMAL WELFARE SYMPOSIUM

FOR STUDENTS 2011

POST-EVENT ARTICLE

M a r c h 19 2 011 w a s a n
important day in the SPCA’s
calendar – this was the day we
held our second Animal
We l f a r e S y m p o s i u m f o r
Students at Ngee Ann
Polytechnic.
T h e fi r s t A n i m a l We l fa r e
Symposium for Students was
organised by the SPCA in 2009
and the event is a key part of
t h e o rga n i s a t i o n ’ s p u b l i c
education initiative.
The Symposium, designed to
raise awareness about animal
welfare issues, was targeted at
youths between the ages of 11
and 20. It was a roaring
success, with more than 400
students and teachers coming About the AWSS...
together in a packed
The goal of the AWSS is to innate enthusiasm for
auditorium to learn about help youths understand animals, and through this
animal welfare and how they what animals go through Symposium, we hope to
can play a part in helping our in this new age and to nurture that interest so it
animal friends. learn to empathise with becomes a lifelong passion.
and respect them. They
The participants were are our future generation Af ter the Symposium,
introduced to a wide range of and leader and the SPCA’s students are encouraged
issues affecting animals used hope is that they grow up to study deeper into any
for human purposes, including caring about and issue/s that interests them
food production and respecting animals. and share with others
companionship by experts what they have learnt.
from various fields in the local We b e l i e ve t h a t m o s t
young people have an
scene. Distinguished speakers
from Animal Concerns and
continued on page 2

VOLUNTEERS WHO MADE THE DAY: STUDENTS WHO CARE: These two Q&A: A student took the opportunity to ask
They are part of what made the event a great students from Queenstown Primary School our guest speakers her burning question.
success. are animal lovers.
 organising this event and I
must say that some of us
have pledged to be
partially vegetarian
because of the poor
animals that suffer but
also because of the great
vegetarian food served. I
would like to be informed
of any such events
Research & Education Society organised by the SPCA in
(ACRES), Cat Welfare Society the future.”
(CWS), the Vegetarian Society
of Singapore (VSS) and “Kudos to you and the rest
of the SPCA members who
Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) tirelessly and effortlessly
organised the Animal
spoke passionately about the
issues close to their Welfare Symposium. My
pupils and I learnt
organisations’ hearts.
valuable lessons and we
Burning questions followed t o o k aw a y m a n y fo n d
during the Q&A sessions as memories from the
students aired their thoughts s y mp o s i u m . We l o o k
a n d fi e l d e d i n t e r e s t i n g for ward to spread the
queries. It was extremely message of animal
heartwarming to see the
welfare,” said Mrs Siti
current young generation so Faizah Shahrin from
enthusiastic about wanting to Queenstown Primary.
share and learn about the
animal welfare cause.
At the end of the
Alicia Gan who attended the
Symposium, the SPCA led a
e v e n t w i t h fo u r o f h e r pledge that encouraged the
friends from Cedar Girls students to uphold the
Secondary remarked, “We values of respect, kindness
really enjoyed the talks and
and compassion towards all
the brochures provided were animals, as well as to do
useful  and enriching. We
their part in spreading
would definitely love to these values that they have
a t t e n d t a l k s  r e l a t e d t o learnt to their peers, so as
animal welfare  in the near to create a kinder world for
future. ”
all animals. They were also
encouraged to do one deed
Jonathan Liem commented,
to improve the lives of
“The Symposium was
animals this year. Many
enlightening! Thanks for
were seen feverishly
YUM YUM VEGAN BUFFET: Some GUEST SPEAKERS (L-R): Dr George
students even said they wanted to bring some Jacobs, Louis Ng and Amy Corrigan.
home for their mothers!
writing what they plan to do
to make a difference. Some
pledged to eat less meat
whilst others wanted to
sterilise a community cat in
their neighbourhood.
Whatever their individual
pledges were, certainly no
act is too small because our
combined acts can make a
huge difference and
contribute to improving the
lives of animals.
Animal welfare awareness
is certainly growing strong
amongst Singapore’s youth.
The SPCA will continue to
foster this growth and is
confident that the young of
today will build a better
future for all creatures
great and small.
FROM THE SPCA:
Th e SP CA wo ul d
like to
th an k Si ng ap or e
Pr es s
H o l d i n g s fo r t h
e kind
donation of $5,000
, which
made the funding
of this
Sy m po si um po ss
ib le . A
heartfelt gratitude al
so goes
to the Ngee
Ann
Po ly te ch ni c’ s De
ba ti ng
Club for co-organisin
g this
event with the SP
CA and
the wonderful speake
rs who
gave up their preciou
s time
to present.
GUEST SPEAKERS (L-R): Fareena Omar
and Jaipal Gill.