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The five freedoms
- A central theme running through all these resources is the concept of the five freedoms. We hope that by introducing this to the young people in the Basic needs section and then reinforcing it in a number of other sections, we will provide them with a code of conduct to apply to every situation in which they encounter animals. The five freedoms are very similar to the duty of care criteria mentioned in the Animal Welfare Act.
- For more detailed information about pets, wild and farm animals visit the All about animals section of the RSPCA website.
- We have also developed three interactive activities - Was it cruel?, Consequences and Triggers - that help young people think through what happens when people are cruel to animals (see right). However, before you attempt to use these, we suggest that you explore some of the activities in the other sections - What is animal cruelty?, What triggers animals cruelty and how it can be avoided, Consequences of cruelty to animals and The incident.
What you need
Equipment
Activity sheets (see Downloads tab)
- Animals
- What we need
- Remembering the five freedoms
Factsheets (see Downloads tab)
- Remembering the five freedoms (answers)
- The five freedoms
Facilitators' notes (see Downloads tab)
- Animals’ basic needs: Cats
- Animals’ basic needs: Dogs
- Animals’ basic needs: Rabbits
- Animals’ basic needs: Laying hens
- Animals’ basic needs: Sheep
- Animals’ basic needs: Swans
- Animals’ basic needs: Hedgehogs
