What a 12-year-old can hear

It was recently reported that the owner of Indiana's Fair Oaks Farm and veterinarian Mike McCloskey failed to hear the pain-filled cries of his farm's newborn calves or detect the signs of abusive and cruel behavior rendered at the hands of his employees as young animals were hit, dragged, kicked and burned. In addition, due to McCloskey's failure to attend to the needs of newborn calves, many were left to die of malnutrition.

On the converse side, consider the resourcefulness of 12-year-old Nathaniel Bray of West Chester, Pennsylvania, who heard the sounds of a mother duck in distress and found her eight ducklings struggling in the waters of an open sewer.

Using only his lacrosse stick, Nathaniel was able to rescue and reunite the ducklings unharmed to their mother. "I had a chance of doing something good," said sixth grader Bray.

Marion Kuehl-Robbins

Winfield