PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Ten-year-old Sophia Daniels used to be afraid of rats, until she joined the Caring Paws Humane Education Program.
“If you get to know the animal well, you won’t be afraid of it anymore and you’ll come to love it,” she said while feeding Cherrios to Lolipop the rat on her lap.
The Caring People Alliance program, a nonprofit, at the R.W. Brown Boys and Girls Club in North Philadelphia has been teaching kids about animals and life for more than 20 years. Its mini zoo, as they call it, includes rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, turtles millipedes and hissing cockroaches.
“One of the biggest things the kids get out of it is just they learn about themselves,” said Jessica Bachrach, STEM coordinator. “They learn about things that they didn’t think they could do, like hold a rat.”
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Bachrach said the kids learn life lessons too, like how to care for things, overcome personal obstacles or deal with death.
“I talk to the kids about how we loved the animal and took good care of them and gave them the best care that we could while they were here, and we’ll miss them, we’re sad,” she gave as an example. “We talk about how the animals still here need our love too, and we can have more love for more animals.”
The Caring Paws project wants to expand its zoo and programming efforts. It is hoping to raise $25,000, allowing them to take the animals on the road to other programs across the region. Club officials hope people will think of them this Giving Tuesday.
“We want to be able to visit kids and older adults in our other centers,” Bachrach added. “I’m hoping to bring in some new kinds of animals, more diversity of animals. A lot of the kids are asking.”