Nikolaous with the letter he received from the RSPCA.
By Melissa Meehan
AN IMAGE of a monkey chained to a raging bull would offend most, but Endeavour Hills nine-year-old Nikolaous Palatsides has taken the opportunity to “do something about it”.
After being reduced to tears while reading an article about the “cruel act”, Nik chose to turn his anger into something productive.
“It started off when I read the article and saw the picture,” Nik said.
“I was so upset that I wanted to try and stop it from happening again.”
So Nik approached his mother Joanna who was able to incorporate the project into his home schooling curriculum.
“Each year there is a Civic and Communities Studies component that Nik has to meet, and we thought this project would be perfect for that,” Mrs Palatsides said.
“He was really enthusiastic to make his mark.”
Nik decided that he would start a letter writing campaign to stop such acts of cruelty on animals.
“I started with Nicaragua because that’s where the photograph in the newspaper was taken,” Nik said.
“So I wrote to the President of Nicaragua, the RSPCA, WSPA and to all the boards of management of large retailers in Australia asking them not to stock products from that country until promises were made to stop things like this from happening again.”
He said it was disappointing to only receive a response from the RSPCA and WSPA.
“When I only got a response from the RSPCA I wanted to do something to thank them,” Nik said.
“So I am holding a garage sale later this month to raise money and I want to hand over a giant cheque with what I have raised.”
Ms Palatsides said that 10 per cent of all earnings at Nik’s garage sale would go to the RSPCA.
“We are also able to teach him some maths skills through this,” Mrs Palatsides said.
“He has wanted a Playstation3 for so long, so he is hoping to make more than $400 out of the sale, keep $340 for himself and give the rest to the RSPCA.
“But no matter how much he makes 10 per cent will go to them.”
The combined Garage Sale will be held over the weekend of 13 and 14 December at 20 Chalot Drive, Endeavour Hills.
