PULLMAN, Wash. — The Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, a KeyBank Trust, has awarded more than $76,000 to the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s People-Pet Partnership.
The grant is seed money to develop a Web-based version of the highly successful curriculum, “Learning and Living Together: Building the Human-Animal Bond.”
Led by Dr. Francois Martin and created by the late dean emeritus Leo K. Bustad in the mid 1980s, the curriculum is used in the United States, Canada and Japan and is being translated into French. Such modules as “Little Critters as Pets” and “Getting Acquainted with Pets” are used to teach children in grades one through six about the needs of pets and how to treat them humanely.
“We’d like to put it all online, transform it into a series of age-appropriate educational games,” Martin said. “The games could be used by teachers or by parents at home.”
Putting the entire curriculum online will cost about $250,000. The Scott grant provides funding for the first three modules. When the project is completed, it will include a module for every grade through middle school.
The People-Pet Partnership is part of WSU’s Center for the Study of Animal Well-Being. It is on the Web at www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-pppp/index.htm.
