By Callum Ludwig
Students from the Cire Community School in Yarra Junction had an opportunity to give back to the farm at Forever Friends Animal Rescue (FFAR) in Gladysdale, volunteering at the shelter on Wednesday 22 March.
Students had the opportunity to feed, water and clean the enclosure for the chickens and in the cattery, with future opportunities to return and help out to continue.
Melbourne Polytechnic animal trainer and volunteer at FFAR Naomi Jeganathan said it is critical for young people like the students to learn how to properly care for different animals.
“Most of the animals that we have here are because of a lack of knowledge from owners as to how to take care of it, then they find that the care is beyond their ability and so they surrender animals to welfare places because of that,” she said.
“It’s fantastic to show people the welfare side of animal care at FFAR, show them what happens to these animals who are in the welfare system and how difficult it is to find some of these animals a home where they’re well looked after.”
The Cire students were from the Work Related Skills – Active Volunteering class and reached out to FFAR after they made a desperate call for volunteers. They started helping out on a regular basis in 2022 and as a result, Ms Jeganathan who once worked at Cire Community School, returned to teach and organise a partnership where Melbourne Polytechnic would deliver the Cert II in Animal Care to Cire students as part of their VET in schools program.
Ms Jeganathan said this course is a pathway for students who are interested in a career with animals.
“From this, they can go on and study veterinary nursing or animal technology. They can do the Cert III which then opens up for them to work in just about every animal place, from boarding kennels to pet shops to doggy daycare,” she said.
“We are also open to any foster carers or volunteers who are able to come out, we need the help at the moment. Even once a month makes a difference.”
The students will continue to help out with tasks such as cleaning the kennels and cattery, dog runs and mucking out stables and animal pens for the wide variety of animals on site including chickens, dogs, cats, goats, sheep, horses and alpacas.
VET Careers and Pathways Leader at Cire Community School Karen Swankie said the students are absolutely stoked to visit FFAR each time.
“They end up connecting really closely with the animals, they follow their story and journey and are really excited to hear that an animal has been fostered out or adopted and are glad they’ve helped that animal have a happy life,” she said.
“If we can teach this handful of kids how to be responsible animal carers in the future, then they’re going to share that knowledge with other people, with their families, with their friends so hopefully we can get the message out there.”
