«I want to do something with animals later in my career»

I tell

Selina*, 9, from the Zurich Unterland region has a brother and a heart and a knack for animals big and small.

A whole farm? Selina grins and nods: «Sure, why not?» The 9-year-old has a heart for animals and a knack for them too. From an early age, her mum Muriel recalls, Selina felt drawn to animals. «She had no fear of contact, even at the zoo or in the wild, for example when we went to the goats in the petting enclosure or she held a spider or a beetle in her hand.» Nobody knows where Selina's soft spot for animals comes from. But it is strong. She has been looking after four rabbits for three years: two giant rabbits that have their enclosure outside in the garden and two minilops in her room. Plus four chickens that came to her in their first week of life. The fact that her parents made it a condition that Selina had to look after the animals herself was not a problem. «I look after them every day and feed them. They eat quite a lot of vegetables and dry food,» says Selina, who also has to clean the cage and enclosure once a week and provide fresh litter. Two years ago, another pet was added, although pet is not quite the right word: Selina's brother and friends found a young rook that had been attacked by a cat and brought it home. «We called him Joggeli and nursed him back to health. After a few weeks, he was released again. Since then, he has lived in the nearby forest and sometimes comes to visit. From time to time, he also accompanies me on the way to school and gets some of my snack.» For a good year now, Selina has also been able to live out her love of animals with much larger animals: she is learning to ride. «I think horses are just as beautiful as rabbits, they're also really cute, even though they're so much bigger,» says Selina. And that there's more to riding than just sitting in the saddle: «After riding, we have to unsaddle the horse, clean it and groom it - but that's also a lot of fun.» Selina doesn't yet know exactly what she would like to do as a career: «But if I can, I'd like to do something with animals.»

*Name changed

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This article is part of the online dossier "The gifted child". Every child has individual talents. Find out what parents can do to help them discover and develop these talents in the dossier on giftedness .

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