Animal Ambassador – The Antigua and Barbuda Humane Society recently held its Animal Ambassador programme at T.N. Kirnon Primary School for the second consecutive year.
Animal Ambassador Program Records
Executive Director and President Karen Corbin said since its inception in 2025, the programme has seen an increase in student participation.
“Forty-six students participated this year compared to 43 last year. In both years, there are Grade Four classes, but this year the school combined two Grade Four classes, so we had twice as many children involved,” she said.
The programme comprised classroom sessions and a visit to the Humane Society’s Donkey Sanctuary in Delaps, Bethesda.
At the sanctuary, Dr Radcliffe Robins taught the students how to properly approach and behave around donkeys and introduced them to the Society’s tortoises.
“This year, when we went back into the classes, we encountered a number of Grade Five students, which means they would have been participating last year as Grade Fours, and they expressed disappointment that we weren’t coming back to their classroom. So, I think the children enjoyed it,” Corbin said.
“We would love to expand it to other schools, but we just don’t have enough staff to be able to do that at this point in time.”
Corbin added that the Society strongly believes in the connection between animal cruelty and interpersonal human violence.
“Children need to learn empathy at a young age and need to understand that the animals do have feelings and they need to treat them properly,” she said.
“I think the children enjoyed it and, hopefully, they got from it what we want them to get from it, which is to understand that just like people, animals have feelings too, and they need to be treated kindly and with responsibility.”
