THE RSPCA is calling for animal welfare to be taught in schools.
It comes after shocking statistics showed more than a fifth of children across the West Midlands had witnessed animal cruelty and neglect on social media.
The charity says it receives reports of 5,000 incidents each year nationally, with 500 in the region and 35 in Warwickshire.
Schoolchildren, aged between ten and 18, were being exposed online to images of horrific animal suffering in ways previous generations had not experienced.
In response the RSPCA is launching Generation Kind, its biggest ever education and prevention programme and has launched a petition calling for school lessons in animal welfare.
Its research shows 80 per cent of people in the West Midlands agree that animal welfare should be taught in schools.
RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood said: “Animals need us now more than ever and we want to grow a new generation of young people who care, who are informed and who want to do their best for animals.”
Generation Kind, he added, was an ambitious education programme targeting schoolchildren, children in care, young offenders or those at risk of offending and other disadvantaged young people.
Animal welfare being taught in schools is central to the drive to ensure children developed life skills, such as compassion and empathy, along with respect for animals and a basic understanding of how to care for them.
For more information, visit www.rspca.org.uk.
