Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, October 20 2022 – The first educational project with roosters and hens is born at the Trotter Educational Farm. The national reference center for animal-assisted interventions (CRN IAA) and the Ministry of Health recognized it as a true pioneering example in educational-educational experimentation with poultry. From them, together with ATS, the green light came for the recognition of "Face to face in the chicken coop" conceived by the Trotter Educational Farm in collaboration with the Education Sector of the Municipality of Milan, which thus becomes the first national pilot project for the process of inclusion of poultry in the list of animals involved in assisted education and therapy.

"A beautiful collaboration between the Municipality of Milan, educators and cooperatives gives us a result with which we are all very satisfied – underlines the deputy mayor and councilor for Education Anna Scavuzzo –. The Trotter Park educational farm has long been a place where girls and boys with their teachers they can live educational experiences in contact with animals, which is unusual in a city and therefore even more precious. This experimental activity involved animals not usually considered affectionate and is today an innovative practice that can be taken as reference for others to come". 
 
Precisely in recent days the Trotter Educational Farm, managed by the "Tempo per l'infanzia" cooperative, also celebrated another objective: the publication, under the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, of the book "La trotteria. The house of happy cats " (ed. Erickson) written by Elena Sposito and illustrated by Danilo Spadea and Piero Morelli, the story of another project which involves not only the boys and girls who frequent the farm, but also the inhabitants of the neighbourhood.

In fact, the book traces, through the story of a cat hosted on the farm, the important networking work between institutions, cooperative staff, veterinarians, children and teachers who work for the well-being of the cats in the colony hosted here. The proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to Lav to support projects in favor of animal protection.

"A book that helps us talk about different themes: civic education and respect for animals, the beauty of education with outdoor experiences and learning to take care – underlines the deputy mayor –. It is a collaboration of success and an opportunity to introduce the little ones to the wonderful world of animals, a story designed for primary school boys and girls, who together with their teachers and their families will be able to discover the Trotter Educational Farm educators who passionately propose fun activities that are at the same time so useful to the growth of our little citizens".