Since 1991, scheduled guided visits for different groups of people were carried out at the Wildlife Centre of Vallcalent, consisting in observing unreleasable animals and in explaining each case, their causes of admittance and why those animals finally became unreleasable into the wild. The goal was to draw attention to the aim and the functioning of the Wildlife Centre and to raise awareness of the consequences of some human actions for the wildlife.

In the year 1999, this activity was reconverted into the educational program Fauna and Habitat, jointly developed by Trenca and the Wildlife Centre of Vallcalent.

A team of monitors with experience in environmental education as well as in the relationship with children and adolescents was in charge of developing the in situ activities. © Trenca

Fauna and Habitat designed and carried out a program of educational activities adapted to the school curriculum of pre-primary, elementary and secondary education, that were developed mainly at the Wildlife Centre of Vallcalent. Each activity was accompanied by pre-visit activities and suggestions for further activities that teachers carried out in their educational centre.

Through the environmental program Fauna and Habitat, meaningful learning experiences were set out in order to encourage students to discover and to appreciate the richness of our natural heritage, to develop their sensitivity to the loss of biodiversity and to enhance the sense of the individual and collective responsibility with regard to the need of preserving the biodiversity.

The scene of the Wildlife Centre of Vallcalent encouraged the approach to the local fauna, its study and knowledge, the awareness and analysis of its diversity, of its adaptability to the habitats, as well as the approach to environmental issues affecting wildlife populations.

A group of school children is fascinated by this cardboard hedgehog that seems almost real. © Trenca

Children doing activities within the educational program Fauna i Hàbitat (Fauna and Habitat). © Trenca