Malaysia's First Official AAT Kicks Off!

PETPOSITIVE BRIEF UPDATE:


(Picture by Ruwaidy Mat Rasul)

AAT LAUNCHED!

It's now official.

Malaysians with disabilities and the elderly can now look forward to having more outings with their pets.

If they have none, they can expect to be invited to events where they will be there so that they can be exposed to the uncanny special powers of animals for healing and healthy living!

The first animal-assisted therapy (AAT) session for disabled and elderly Malaysians was successfully kicked off earlier this morning.

The activity was opened by Suhakam Commissioner Dato' Siva Subramaniam at the Kepong Botanical Gardens in Selangor.

Addressing some 80 participants - nearly half of them people with disabilites, their cargivers and their pets, Dato Siva said he was extremely pleased that AAT had finally arrived in Malaysia.

"By reaching out through AAT, we demonstrate that we care much more than others," he pointed out.

Petpositive's Vice-President Dr Anna Padma Soosai (pictured above) and our Society's official doctor on call for the event handed several momentos to Dato' Siva after his encouraging speech.

"Dato' Siva's speech is one of the best speeches I've heard," said Lynda Merican, the Petpositive Event Coordinator to this Blog. "He was truly spot-on with his delivery," she added.

The blind, Deaf, people in wheelchairs and the profoundly handicapped were afterwards lead by by able-bodied volunteers on a nature walk into the forest.

They were later introduced to various pets. These included two rabbits, three wild frogs from the forest that was captured the night before (and released later), and one home and office cat.

Four dogs were also present. These were personal pets of some of the participants, including the disabled and the elderly. They accompanied their owners up the jungle trail that was made for wheelchairs in FRIM.

The AAT event called the Valentina Project was named after a nine-year old rabbit named Valentina. The bunny which was the first lagomorph (a member of the rodent clan) to attend a Petpositive Committee Meeting in February of this year.

Valentina, sadly died of cancer two months later. She belonged to Captain Karim Stuart Russell and Fasidah Sabeh, Petpositive's official rabbit care specialists who reside in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

LOOK OUT FOR FULL DAILY REPORTS ON OUR FRIM EXCURSION BEGINNING

FROM TOMORROW!

P+Blog End