Moore Montessori celebrates its Pet Advocates!
The students at Moore Montessori Community School completed their cycle of Pet Responsibility classes on Thursday, December 18. This culminated the six weekly sessions where the students learned about being, or becoming, responsible pet owners. Along with Speuter (Ann Rothe), the mascot for the PRC program, Bill Russell hosted the final ceremonies.
The invited parents, staff, students, and head master of Moore Montessori were treated to a slide show and discussion with veterinarian, Dr. Tom Daniel. He is one of the owners of Southern Pines Equine Associates. He discussed his work with two of his most interesting horses – Sam and Blue. Even though Sam had been a race horse, he was neglected and became a rescue. With proper nutrition and care, Sam has become an Event horse. He competes in Cross Country, Jumping, and Dressage. Blue on the other hand is a pony who lost his left rear foot through no fault of his own. Slides showed the efforts made to create a prosthesis for him so he could live out his life as a happy pony. Excitement was added to this event because Dr. Tom was able to trailer both horses to the campus for the students, staff, and guests to meet. Bill gave the students a short review of topics that they had learned over the past five lessons by asking True/False questions for them to answer.
Speuter read her heartwarming story about her life before being adopted and how it changed for the better afterwards. Both Bill and Speuter read the “Promise Poster” with the students responding appropriately after each phrase. The white lunch bags that are used to dispense medications for the pets after their procedures at the Spay/Neuter Clinic were decorated by the students in Art classes. Awards were given by Bill and Speuter to the four best artists. They were Everly, Ava, Boden, and Ann Louise. Bill and Speuter also awarded the top four winners of the spay/neuter contest, funded by the Moore County Kennel Club. The children were asked to write a story about why their pet deserved to be spayed or neutered and why it is important. They learned that this will help with the overpopulation of unwanted dogs and cats in Moore County.
The winners were Alexander, Ann Louise, Boden, and Ava. Some winners donated their free spay/neuter back to be given to a pet in need. As some of the students were visiting with Sam and Blue, the remainder were signing the “Promise Poster.” After a short time, the students exchanged places so that everyone had a chance to meet Sam and Blue. We are fortunate that a new group of responsible pet owners are here in Moore County. They now know what it means to be a true “Pet Advocate.”
