Fostering Respect for All Life on International Day of Education

The 24th January has been recognised by the United Nations as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development. This recognition, whilst much needed, comes against a global societal backdrop of instability, inequality, environmental breakdown and our continuing exploitation of the planet's natural resources for our own benefit. Our Global Director of Animal Sentience & Welfare Dave Neale writes about how Animals Asia developed a new educational approach to encourage children to see the world and the animals within it differently.

Large populations of people continue to be treated unfairly purely due to their geographical location, historic cultures, gender and beliefs. Swathes of our natural world continue to be carved up for mining, infrastructure or agricultural development, and trillions of animals suffer each year to supply us with our food, clothing and medicines, or exploited for our sport & entertainment. Uses that in many cases have become socially and legally accepted as normal practices and we actively encourage our own children to participate within.?

In 2022, UNESCO said ‘our world stands at a turning point. Gaping inequalities, a damaged planet, growing polarization and the devastating impact of the global pandemic puts us before a generational choice: Continue on an unsustainable path or radically change course.’

At Animals Asia, we met this challenge by developing a new educational approach to encourage children to see the world and the animals within it differently. To help children to challenge the societal view of animals being on this planet for our benefit, and to see animals for the individuals they are and to understand how they perceive their own worlds.

To achieve this we have removed the species barriers that our societies help construct which often lead to some species receiving more respect than others. We have delved deep into the lives of many animal species to unearth the richness of their experiences and to convey these to our young audiences.?

Our animal sentience education programme allows people to view the world from the eyes of the animals themselves. To learn how animals have evolved to live within their own natural environment, possessing knowledge and skills relevant to them and their survival. To learn how their complex emotional and cognitive abilities help them to successfully navigate their worlds. Incorporating the rich social lives of many animals, and the complexity of their relationships built on empathy, cooperation and understanding of each other as individuals. As well as the capacity for animals to learn important survival skills from each other and to pass on problem solving and tool use skills to future generations through cultural transmission.?

Delivering details of these complex social, emotional and cognitive abilities in animals such as pigs, hens, fishes, octopus, shrimps and bees. In doing so we have been able to show that the life of a bee, a hen or a fish can be just as emotionally and cognitively complex as that of an elephant or a dolphin. The contexts and the social and physical environments in which they operate may differ vastly but each species has evolved their own emotional and cognitive capacities to meet the challenges they face within their own natural worlds. Such knowledge is critical for us to understand that each of these species has their very own intelligences that are relevant to them and the worlds they have evolved to live within.

Delivering this depth of information about individual species allows the public to immerse themselves into the world of the individual? animal and to decide for themselves if they should or should not be treated the way in which many of them are for our own benefit.

Animal’s lives are much more complex than we have previously understood. Animal social groupings, cultural diversity and transmission, communication, feelings of pain, fear and anxiety, and the positive feelings of pleasure and play are vitally important parts of all animals' lives. Behavioral research is now demonstrating that animals have many of the emotional, cognitive and moral capabilities that had previously been believed to belong solely to humans. Many animals have the capacity for reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, tool use, self-awareness and learning. Many show emotions similar to what we call empathy and ways of behaving that are being interpreted as morality. They can also be reduced to a state resembling human depression by chronic stress or confinement.

As our knowledge of animal behaviour increases we are discovering evidence of the capacity for such complex emotional and cognitive experiences in a wide range of species, including many of those that we use and abuse in their millions such as rats, mice, pigs, hens, cows, fishes, lobsters and prawns.

Our educational approach addresses these very issues head on. Through storytelling, pictures, videos, role-playing, and simulated interactive games, children receive a series of classes in which they can learn more about the richness of the lives of all animals. Cultivating their care and respect for life, as well as their awareness and understanding of animal welfare.?

Educators guide children to take the perspective of the individuals themselves and to think about how they are perceiving their world based on how we are treating them. Such? guidance allows the children to gain a deeper understanding about the relationship between animals, humans and the environment.

Through this educational approach, the children are presented with the opportunity to learn about a wealth of natural science knowledge and animal welfare concepts relevant to many different species, helping to cultivate their empathy towards animals and a sense of responsibility for caring for nature.

To radically change the destructive course that we are on, we must continue to invest in such educational approaches, expanding them far and wide. Providing children of all backgrounds with knowledge and skills that allow them to challenge societal norms and to forge a new relationship with the animal kingdom built upon understanding and respect for all life.