Welcome, Santos!
Loveland, Ohio – A new student joined the class at Loveland Primary School (LPS) Friday, Nov. 13, and he was anything but typical. Santos is an ocelot who was born November 2, 2013, and is learning to be a cat ambassador with the Cincinnati Zoo Cat Ambassador Program. He used the LPS classroom as a place to get his first experience working with students.
“The students loved seeing the ocelot. Santos is learning to be a cat ambassador so that he can visit classrooms to teach children about how an ocelot is uniquely adapted to its environment, its role in the ecosystem and what can be done to protect all cats’ natural habitat,” said LPS Teacher Jennifer Kenny.
“My hope is to instill students with a love for animals. In 2005, I visited the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, Africa, with a group of educators through Earth Expeditions, a program through Miami University and The Cincinnati Zoo. This spurred my love for cats, and it is very important to me to share this love with my students.”
The Cincinnati Zoo Cat Ambassador Program works to complement life science lessons currently being taught in Ohio classrooms.
