Animal Expert Touts Pets to Aid Self-Esteem, Improve Family Life
Renowned animal expert Jack Hanna spoke to a group of parents and children near USC on Tuesday to spread a message that owning a pet can increase self-esteem, improve the quality of family time and teach children about life and death.
“In an era of dwindling family time, overpopulated school environments and often hostile neighborhoods, a pet can make a big difference in a child’s positive development,” Hanna told a group at the Hoover Intergenerational Center.
Hanna, director emeritus at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, said these findings came from the Waltham Center, a British research facility that studies the bonds between animals and humans.
Along with the pets, Hanna displayed a giant monitor lizard, a rare purple macaw, young huskies and two rabbits.
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