Young students lend a hand at Okanagan animal sanctuary – Okanagan

As the saying goes, many hands make light work.

It’s an old adage that the students from Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School in Kelowna, B.C., are putting to the test, working as a team to help feed the herd at Happy Hooves Sanctuary.

Last year, three Grade 5 classes visited the farm to learn what the sanctuary needed to continue caring for its group of misfit animals who have either been mistreated or abandoned. Now, the students are here to complete their project.

“We are making goat planters made of cedar, which is safe for goats to chew on, and we are planting herbal plants in them,” said Chaire Deng, one of the students participating.

Deng says that the plants will help keep the goats healthy.

“We are planning to plant medicinal plants for the goats to eat because goats, when they feel sick or something, they just know what they need to eat,” said Deng.

The year-long project is designed to challenge the students.

“We split the students into groups. Some were in charge of budgeting ideas, (figuring out) what are the costs for materials, what are the plants they can use, how do we make sure the goats don’t destroy the plants,” said Scott Twigg,  Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School teacher.

“(So there are) various ways for them to have a piece of the project.”

The students became so invested in the project that they raised just over $1,500 for Happy Hooves. Co-founder of the sanctuary, Tristyn Hay, says she hopes the project will have a lasting effect.

“It’s really important they get the knowledge and the skill set they need to empower these kids to make better decisions in the future and thereby reducing the burden a lot of these sanctuaries are facing, because now these kids might make better decisions in regard to animal care,” said Hay.

Once finished, the goat boxes will be just the first project completed as a collaboration with the sanctuary.

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