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In 2012 a 17-year-old boy in West Sacramento took a can of lighter fluid, dumped it on a cat, and lit the cat on fire. When people in the nearby park saw the ball of fire moving across the grass, they had no idea that there was an animal in pain under all those flames.<\/p>\n

The cat was rescued by a non-profit organization headquartered in Sacramento, California called RedRover. Sadly this did not have a good ending for the poor cat who had to be put down as the extent of the burns was too great. The child was caught, and later when the police asked him why he did it, his response was “I just wasn’t thinking”.<\/p>\n

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I hate sharing such a\u00a0horrendous story, \u00a0but it was the moment that made Nicole Forsyth, CEO of RedRover decide that the only way to prevent animal cruelty, was to stop it before it ever happened, and to do that – they had to teach children empathy for animals. The RedRover Readers program was born, and has since trained hundreds of teachers and educated thousands of students in classrooms across the country through stories and games to\u00a0have compassion for animals.<\/p>\n