Band Subculture and their AR Group Subculture Animal Friends Produce Comic “Floyd” to Educate Kids About What Pets Need

Great idea. I still see backyard dogs that probably started off as a present and now live alone in the yard. Very sad.

As stated below:

“Using funds from sponsors and benefit concerts, Subculture Animal Friends produced 3,500 DVDs and booklets telling the story of Floyd as he travels through a typical Maltese village with his loving owner Roger and encounters neglected and abandoned animals.
In the booklet, children are told how the animals ended up in their particular situation and what action is eventually taken to improve their lives.
"Since it is for young children, I created a happy ending for all the animals," said author Mrs Micallef, who prefers rock to punk music.
"The aim is to teach children that pets need love, time and dedication, and if you cannot offer a pet these things you shouldn't get one. We hope children will go home and pass the message onto their parents."”

Article:

Campaigners unleash cartoon dog Floyd on schoolchildren

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100613/local/campaigners-unleash-cartoon-dog-floyd-on-schoolchildren

Patrick Cooke

Animal rights supporters linked to punk band Subculture have a new weapon in their fight against animal cruelty - a cute cartoon dog called Floyd.

Named after Pink Floyd, the cartoon dog is spearheading a drive by Subculture Animal Friends - a campaign group derived from Subculture and made up of vocalist/guitarist Ray Schembri, drummer Ray Micallef, his wife Carmen and daughter Karen, and artist Charlotte Bellizzi - to raise awareness of animal rights among primary schoolchildren and their parents.

Using funds from sponsors and benefit concerts, Subculture Animal Friends produced 3,500 DVDs and booklets telling the story of Floyd as he travels through a typical Maltese village with his loving owner Roger and encounters neglected and abandoned animals.
In the booklet, children are told how the animals ended up in their particular situation and what action is eventually taken to improve their lives.

"Since it is for young children, I created a happy ending for all the animals," said author Mrs Micallef, who prefers rock to punk music.
"The aim is to teach children that pets need love, time and dedication, and if you cannot offer a pet these things you shouldn't get one. We hope children will go home and pass the message onto their parents."

The booklet also contains information about the importance of neutering and spraying pets, and lists the contact details of the Animal Welfare Department.

Permission was granted by the Education Ministry for the group to distribute the DVDs and booklets to Year 4 students in all state primary schools, and they have done this enthusiastically since the initiative was launched on May 7 in front of 400 schoolchildren and invited guests at the Metanoia Theatre in Luqa.

All the DVDs and booklets have now been distributed, except for a few which will be given to Puttinu Cares and the Inspire Foundation.
"We had a good response and could see from the children's faces that they liked to receive the books and DVDs. We hope this initiative will have long-term benefits for animal welfare in Malta," Mr Micallef said.

The booklets and DVDs were distributed for free, though children were asked to donate a can of pet food which Subculture Animal Friends will allocate to local animal sanctuaries.
Although children were not obliged to donate a can of food, judging by the boxes piled up near the entrance of the Micallefs' home in Paola when The Sunday Times visited, many of them happily did so.

Artwork for the cartoon and booklet was done by Ms Bellizzi and the cartoon was narrated in Maltese by Mr Schembri.

Some of the ideas for the project were raised by the Micallefs' nine-year-old daughter Karen, which helped ensure it is suitable for the target audience.
Background music in the DVD comes from Subculture and Mr Micallef's former band Lord Adder.

While some parents may be surprised to learn of the link between punk music and animal welfare, Mr Schembri pointed out that punk music has a long history of activism, and Subculture have always been vociferous in their support of animal rights.

"A lot of punk bands are involved with animal rights and do benefit gigs; that has been the case since early crust punk emerged in the late 1970s. A broad range of bands, not only punk, have helped us with benefit gigs in the past and I'm sure they will in the future," he said.
In fact, some of the funding for the Floyd initiative came from Subkult Fest, a three-day fundraising concert in Paceville in December 2008 involving 15 local bands from genres as diverse as death metal and acoustic rock.
Further funding came from nine local councils and pet food company Royal Canin.