Thanks to funding from WSPA, the Humane Society was able to produce a children’s television show, Pet Playhouse, as part of its humane education programme. The original episodes, 10 minutes in length, were produced by HAMA Productions and aired on local television every Saturday and Sunday morning. Fifty-two episodes have been aired and there are plans to repeat the show as soon as possible.

Pet Playhouse has recently been expanded to a half-hour show and will be distributed regionally. Pet Playhouse features Caribbean children teaching their peers how to look after animals properly and how to be kind to animals.
 

PET PLAYHOUSE ( half hour children’s show)

Show Description

Move over Pokemon! Step aside Rug Rats! M ake room for a new children’s show PET PLAYHOUSE. It’s live-action. And it’s one of the most innovative and educational programs ever to hit the Caribbean television screen.

Produced by HAMA Productions for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, the half- hour show is hosted by children for children. The objective: satisfying their natural curiosity about pets and wildlife …while educating them about animal welfare and conservation.

Every week children from all over the Caribbean will be entertained by the comedic antics of puppets Petley the Puppy and Carmine the Cat, as they take viewers on an around-the-world odyssey to the deepest corners of the earth to learn about things like endangered pygmy chimps, polar bears, and killer whales.

The program will also teach children how to take personal care of their pets …and keeps them abreast of local happenings at animal shelters, across the region.

The Audience

PET PLAYHOUSE has already been enjoying a wide audience appeal in Antigua and the surrounding Caribbean islands, for the past two years. The audience has grown to well over a hundred thousand and it is made up of both children and adults –something that most mainstream children’s programs don’t achieve. The program draws such a wide audience because of its slick presentation and its riveting content.

The market for indigenous children’s programming is virtually untapped in the region. And it’s estimated with regional distribution the show could draw a potential market of over a million people --and that’s according to conservative estimates.

When you consider those factors, and the struggles currently facing WSPA and local Humane Societies when trying to change cultural mores, PET PLAYHOUSE is the ideal and most effective way to reach the “impressionable” before it’s too late.