Henry Smith MP attended the RSPCA’s event in the House of Commons (on Wednesday, 22nd January) and met with Chief Executive Chris Sherwood to hear about their Generation Kind initiative which helps teach compassion to new generations and the organisation’s work to protect animals in Crawley.
Research by the RSPCA revealed that nearly a quarter of school children aged 10-18 have witnessed animal cruelty and neglect on social media. Generation Kind, the charity’s biggest ever education and prevention programme, was developed to help address this.
Henry said;
“I’m proud to support the RSPCA and the work that they do to protect animal welfare in Crawley. It was fantastic to hear about their work and to thank them on behalf of the animal lovers in our town for all that they do.
“However, I’m saddened that young children are being exposed to horrific incidents of animal suffering online, in ways previous generations have simply not experienced.
“We all have a duty to raise the next generation to be kind and compassionate to animals and I’ll continue to work closely with the RSPCA to help improve standards of animal welfare in Crawley and across the UK.”
The Chief Executive of the RSPCA, Chris Sherwood, commented;
“It’s great that Henry Smith MP attended our drop-in event to find out how we help animals in his constituency.
“Our frontline officers see some really horrific suffering and our research revealed that children as young as 10 have seen cruelty and attacks in social media videos and posts which is worrying.
“We are working hard to create a generation of children who treat animals with kindness, compassion and respect through Generation Kind – a series of projects working with youngsters at risk of offending, animal care sessions for children in care and also talks and competitions for primary and secondary school children designed to make them think about animal welfare.”
The RSPCA has been protecting animals since its foundation in 1824. To this day, they are increasing their work to prevent cruelty occurring in the first place and to educate the next generation of animal lovers.
