WHAT’S UP 9
April 2013
GET IT RIGHT
ANIMAL FACT AND FICTION
the
Animal lover Ann Lee enjoys movies featuring cute creatures, but knows that they are just for entertainment.
A
ANN Lee and Thor.
nn Lee is an education
officer at the Society
for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals
(SPCA). She helps
others understand how to take care
of animals and respect them like any
fellow living being. The animal lover
currently shares a home with a dog,
a cat, two guinea pigs, two hamsters
and two gerbils. She tells us that
some pets become fashionable after
they appear in hit movies.
Ann Lee says that some children and
adults are too easily influenced by
movies that show attractive animals.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying
such shows, as long as you have the
information literacy to understand
that fiction is different from fact.
Remember:
 To keep you entertained, a
movie may show you only the
attractive or exciting side of an
animal – like how cute or smart it
is. But, real animals don’t exist to
entertain you. They need care.
 There is a difference between
image and reality. The image may
not be totally made up. But, it is
often incomplete – it does not
show you everything.
Most of the time, movies do not portray
the reality of caring for pets. And, many
pet shops do not give enough accurate
facts about caring for pets. To find out
the reality, get advice from people like
Miss Lee who know the facts – not from
your favourite movie.
Q: Can you give us examples of
animals that have become popular
over the years?
A: Chinchillas were once very
popular because they were featured
in the Japanese animation film
My Neighbor Totoro. After that, we
noticed more of them at pet shops
and we also received calls asking
about them. There was also an event
a few years back that brought in
exotic breeds of rabbits, and we did
receive some surrendered exotic
rabbits after that. When there is a
trend, people get animals as pets,
but they often abandon them when
the trend dies. Q: Why did some of these pets
become so popular?
A: We see it quite often whenever
there is a movie featuring certain
animals. For example, after the
movie Marley and Me, which
featured a Labrador, people got
really interested in this breed. There
were also movies featuring huskies
used to pull sleds in snowy regions.
And, suddenly, people wanted them
in tropical Singapore!
Besides movies, when
advertisements show a
certain breed of dog, for
example the Jack Russell,
people also get excited
about it. Often, people
who get interested in
these animals don’t do
their research before they
get the animals. After they get the
pet, they realise it’s not like the
movies and advertisements, and
then they give it up.
Q: What else is missing from the
media’s portrayal of animals?
A: The media portrays really cute
Learning from ANN LEE
Two super sites to visit:
· http://infolit.nl.sg/index.php/students/
for fun facts on information literacy;
· http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/index.
aspx
for your projects and assignments.
images of animals, but people
need to know that they should do
their research after that and learn
that it is not all fun and games. In
the movie G-Force, guinea pigs can
air-kick , but in real life they can’t
do that, of course! In The Mask,
the movie shows how cute and
intelligent the
Jack Russell is
when it puts
on the mask,
but it doesn’t
show you how
often it needs
to be fed, or
what to do
when it falls ill
and needs a visit to the vet.
Most of the time, the media
does not show how often an animal
needs to poo or pee each day, how
you have to take it out for walks, as
well as clean and groom it. You also
have to train animals because, like
you and I, they need guidance and
patience, too.
Q: What else should people find out
before getting a pet?
A: Some pet shops fail to tell
people certain things about the
animals, and people buy them
thinking about how cute they look
behind the glass. But, a pet needs
so much more than that. It needs
food, regular grooming, consistent
training, and trips to the vet which
could cost a few hundred dollars
each time. For instance, hamsters
are supposed to be kept separately
in their own cages, but they are
often all dumped together in a tank
at a pet shop. This misleads people
into thinking that it is okay to keep
them in the same condition as the
pet shop does. In actual fact, if you
do that, then the hamsters usually
end up fighting with one another
and, worse still, would breed really
fast so you may end up with 70 plus
hamsters before you know it.
VOCABULARY chinchillas (say “chn-chlahs”; noun) = a small, furry rodent from South America.
QUIZ
Answer three simple questions and
you may win a $10 POPULAR voucher.
If you win, your whole class gets
token gifts as well! Submit your entry
at http://www.whatsup.sg
(go to “GET IT RIGHT”). Open
to all students below 18 years
of age. Deadline: 2 May 2013.
Congratulations to last month’s
winners:
• Chloris Chan, Pri 5, Nanyang Primary
• Glen Low Jun Jie, Sec 1, Nan Chiau
High
Get it right is brought to you by
What’s Up in partnership with the
Information Literacy & Outreach
Department of the National Library
Board.