Students 'adopt' dogs

A group of students from St Ignatius College's Handaq Boys' secondary school, Qormi, recently visited the Island sanctuary at Tas-Silg, Delimara, to choose two lucky dogs to adopt through a sponsorship. The visit was arranged by the school headmaster Carmel Micallef and assistant head Benardette Portelli.

After briefing the students about the daily activities and work carried out by volunteers at the sanctuary, Ms Gloria gave them a brief history on most of the 150 dogs in the pens. Although each dog has a rather miserable past, they are all cute in one way or another. But what struck the students most was not their beauty but the story of their past.

'Shot' was the first dog the students were interested in, especially when they were told the name was given to him because he was found with severe gunshot wounds in his ear. Despite the fact that the ear had to be amputated, the dog is now fully recovered and coping amazingly well. After hearing this sad story, the students immediately wanted 'Shot' as one of the sponsored dogs.

As the visit continued, the students were introduced to 'Cuddles', a black and white mongrel with practically half of its muzzle missing. This gives the dog a rather sinister appearance since it appears to be continually snarling and it certainly did not encourage its adoption. Surprisingly enough, most of the students wanted 'Cuddles' as their second dog.

At the end of the visit, the students presented Ms Gloria and the volunteers the small sum of money they had collected for the dogs. The memories of this school day 'with a difference' will no doubt live on in the students' minds and hearts.