The next time you see an animal try listening and let them know that they are safe with you. They deserve to be heard, and if you sit with them for a while, you can see they are trying to tell you something.I started believing we can give animals a voice after a summer with my class pet. Tortilla, the tortoise we were looking after, realised where the back door was within days of his arrival. We decided to let him out in the yard because he would obsessively scratch at the door. Quickly after, Tortilla found the two side gates leading to the road.

We saw that this remarkably fast tortoise who was about the size of a grapefruit was acting like an escape artist. He seemed to need more exercise. Tortoises in the wild roam and forage for about 8 or 9 hours a day. We saw that he was stuck in his terrarium, so we started letting him out more with supervision. We even would walk him on a leash made for tortoises, but found that he preferred to roam alone. We put a bright yellow piece of tape on his back, like a racing stripe, to keep track of our grapefruit sized houdini. This was one of the first telling signs that he had a voice. We just needed to listen.

We learned to accommodate Tortilla by letting him roam freely, even in the house, developing methods for his care, such as a paper-towel disposable diaper, fastened with masking tape. One day, I heard squeaking from his terrarium. I’d never heard him utter a noise, and saw he was stuck in his water bowl.

It was then that I knew I could give a voice to the voiceless.

A couple years later, I had another experience with a new class pet, Cashew, the bearded dragon. He came to my 5th-grade class after his owner was not able to give him enough attention. Cashew was a calm and loving dragon, who adored cuddles, and I eagerly volunteered to look after him on all the breaks.The next time you see an animal try listening and let them know that they are safe with you.

On the winter holiday, the night before the big Eaton Canyon fire, he was with me at my house. The winds were howling, and the power was out. Usually, Cashew was asleep by 6pm, but at 10:30, he was roaming about his cage looking terrified. I decided to pick him up and held him close to my chest. Within one moment he was fast asleep. After about 30 mins I transferred him back to his terrarium, quietly like you would a newborn baby. He slept the rest of the night soundly.