TeachKind

Lessons and Materials

Issues Facing Teachers

Subscribe to E-News

» Additional Info For...

	Primary Educators
	Secondary Educators
	College Professors
	Librarians

Free Stuff From TeachKind

	Lessons
	Videos and DVDs
	Publications
	How to Order

Why Humane Education?

Resources

Home > Resources > Archived TeachKind Bulletins > Holliday Edition 2004 TeachKind Bulletin

Drawing by Maggie, age 4

Want to Save a Sheep This Season?

A Special Holiday Humane Education Lesson for Students Aged 5 to Adult
The holiday shopping season is in full swing, but many of us do not realize the far-reaching effects that our purchases can have around the globe. That's why this month's bulletin is a lesson plan about Australian sheep and how our purchases here impact their lives there.

This lesson can be tailored to students of all ages. After reviewing the lesson, please give us your feedback by answering the five questions at the end. This will better enable us to provide you with resources and materials that will be helpful to you. Thank you!

Lesson Objectives
The purpose of this lesson is to:

Inform students about new research that reveals the amazing memory powers and rich emotional lives of sheep
Teach students about concerns with wool industry practices
Allow students to learn about and practice citizenship skills so that they will be able to shape their world in a positive way.

Best Practice Tips for Humane Education
Throughout this lesson, we have included "best practice tips" to aid you in presenting this lesson. The following tips will help you get started:

Create a respectful classroom environment by telling students that the purpose of this lesson is to provide information that will allow them to consider the lives of sheep, the Australian wool industry's treatment of sheep, and the things that are being done to improve conditions for sheep. Stress that you are not trying to tell them what to think, how to behave, or what to do but are, instead, seeking to inform them and encourage them to think and discuss how our daily choices impact the world and how each person can use those choices to keep things the way that they are or create positive change.
Let students know that the main ground rule for this lesson is to show respect for each other. Your students may have a variety of opinions on this subject, but they should understand that you expect them to respect each other, even if they disagree. Model that respect for them throughout the presentation.

Appreciating Sheep
Sheep are loving mothers, rams are protective fathers, and lambs are playful and joyous when they are happy. A recent study at Babraham University in the U.K. found that sheep can recognize photographs of as many as 50 different people and sheep, even if they haven't seen them in two years! Teach your students these and other fascinating facts about sheep.

Concerns About the Wool Industry
Many humane organizations are concerned about the way that sheep are treated in the wool industry. Get background information on these welfare concerns by watching this short online video and reading this fully referenced report. Be advised that the video shows disturbing images of violence toward sheep during mulesing (a procedure in which pieces of their flesh are cut off), transportation, and slaughter.

In an age-appropriate manner, share the information with your students, or have them research the subject themselves using the following Web sites:

You can also share the following interesting facts with your students:

Merino sheep were originally from Spain. When one farmer noticed that merino sheep had wrinkles, he decided to breed the most wrinkly sheep with each other to create a super-wrinkly merino with many folds of skin-because the more skin they have, the more wool they produce. But when people breed animals, they don't always consider the consequences, and now there are super-wrinkly sheep in Australia who are very hot and uncomfortable in the drought-stricken land, and their skin folds attract flies and moisture, which causes them to suffer from flystrike. So do Australian farmers use breeding to reduce wrinkles and prevent flystrike? No, they cut flesh from the animals' rears with a pair of shears!
After being mulesed, little lambs can't move for a day or two. When they can finally get around, they move like little crabs because they are in so much pain. They also stay as far away as possible from the person who mulesed them for as long as 113 days!

Best Practice Tips for Humane Education

If you teach high school or college, and you show the online video to your students, please alert them to the fact that the video contains upsetting imagery of animals being harmed. Let them know that they will see animal mutilations performed without the use of anesthetics, animals being beaten, animals suffering from disease during transport on overcrowded ships, and the slaughter of fully conscious animals. Empower your students to take care of themselves by feeling free to close their eyes or step out of the room during scenes that they find too difficult to watch.
After the video, allow time for your students to share their reactions, discuss what they saw, ask questions (which can be used to launch further research), and process the information. Good questions to start the discussion include: "By a show of hands, how many of you were upset by what you saw?" (validate them by explaining that being upset is a common reaction), "How did watching the video make you feel?" and "What information in the video was surprising or new to you?"

Empowering Students
After students learn about the wool industry, they will be interested in knowing what groups and individuals like themselves can do to help improve the situation. Tell them that animal-protection groups are educating the public about these concerns by writing letters to publications, organizing protests, and encouraging companies and individuals to boycott wool and buy wool alternatives instead. Your students will be delighted to know that popular clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch recently joined the international boycott against Australian wool.

Best Practice Tips for Humane Education

Every humane education program should empower students to learn what they, as individuals, can do to help so that they can become active, conscientious, responsible citizens who have the skills to positively influence society.
Before talking about ways that your students can help, remind them that you are not telling them that they have to do these things, but rather, making sure that they know what they can do to make a difference, should they choose to do so.
It is also important to allow your students to practice citizenship skills such as signing petitions, writing letters, and participating in consumer boycotts. That said, no student should be required to do anything that violates his or her own conscience. Participation in these activities should be voluntary or-if required-should provide options that allow for people of all opinions to participate.

What Your Students Can Do to Help

Sign the Petition
Give your students the opportunity to sign this printable petition, which encourages the Australian government to ban the cruel practices of mulesing and live export. Return the petition to the address on the bottom of the
page.

Speak Out!
Ask your students to share their thoughts. Students who want to see sheep treated better can direct their messages to Australian Prime Minister John Howard to encourage him to ban mulesing and the live export of sheep. Younger students can draw pictures that show how great sheep are, why they need to wear their own wool, and why mulesing and live exports are cruel. Older students can write letters to explain why these practices must be stopped.

Students who see no problem with treating sheep in this way can write letters and create drawings that express why they disagree with efforts to improve conditions for sheep raised for wool. Those letters can be sent to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

After your students have completed the assignment, ask someone to take a picture of you and your students holding up the posters or letters in your classroom. Please e-mail digital photos to us at Info@teachkind.org, and send printed photos-along with all drawings and letters-to the following address:

PETA
"Save the Sheep" Campaign
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510

Some of the best drawings and letters will be featured on SaveTheSheep.com, PETAKids.org, and TeachKind.org and will also be forwarded to Australian Prime Minister Howard. The letters and pictures to PETA will be read and viewed, and students will receive a response. Please be sure that students include their name, age, your name, and the school name on their drawings and letters. Also include your name, e-mail address, school address, and phone number so that we can contact you if we have further questions.

Be a Compassionate Consumer!
During this busy holiday shopping season, people are buying and requesting presents. Let your students know about the warm, comfortable, and affordable alternatives to wool, particularly merino wool, that are available. You or your students may also want to order a free Guide to Compassionate Clothing. Students can ask their friends and family members not to give them presents that contain wool this holiday season and to read clothing labels to make sure that their purchases don't contain wool.

Conclusion
Ask your students to tell you what they learned about sheep and the wool industry and what they can do to positively influence their world.

Evaluate This Lesson
Let us know what you think of this lesson by sending an e-mail message with the subject line "'Want to Save a Sheep This Season?' Lesson Evaluation" to Info@teachkind.org. Please include the answers to the following brief questions:

1. What is the age of the students you teach?
2. Are lessons that are written for all age levels, like this one, easy to use, or do you prefer to have separate lessons for students of different ages?
3. Are the "Best Practice Tips" helpful?
4. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being excellent), how would you rate the usefulness of this lesson? Why?
5. Will you be using this lesson with your students?
Optional: Do you have any other comments about this lesson (what you liked, how it could be improved, etc.)?

Thank you!

Yours for a humane world,
The TeachKind Staff

TeachKind
501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510
Info@teachkind.org 757-622-7382