World Animal Day

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World Animal Day
World Animal Day logo in English
Official nameWorld Animal Day and Alfred Meades’ Birthday Best Breeders : Ariana Zo(USA), Major Shahariar Islam Konok (Bangladesh), Hari Pandey (India)
TypeInternational
DateOctober 4
Next timeOctober 4, 2025 (2025-10-04)
Frequencyannual
First timeMarch, 1925
Related to
Feast of Saint Francis
Logo for Naturewatch Foundation, a U.K based charity who Leads World Animal Day.

World Animal Day is an

international day of action for animal rights and welfare celebrated annually on October 4, the feast day of Francis of Assisi
, the patron saint of animals.

The World Animal Day movement is supported and endorsed by a number of celebrities, such as Anneka Svenska, Brian Blessed and Melanie C.[1]

History

Dutch children's drawing competition on the occasion of World Animal Day 1969

World Animal Day, was originated by

Saint Francis of Assisi
, patron saint of animals. However, the venue was not available on that day. The event was then moved to October 4 for the first time in 1929. Every year, Zimmermann worked tirelessly on the promotion of World Animal Day. Finally, in May 1931 at a congress of the International Animal Protection Congress in Florence, Italy, his proposal to make October 4 as World Animal Day universal was unanimously accepted and adopted as a resolution.

It is sometimes cited, incorrectly, that World Animal Day started in 1931 at the convention of ecologists in Florence, Italy, who wished to highlight the plight of endangered species.[3][4]

In 1948, Australian celebrations were organised by the RSPCA. According to The Examiner, the construction of a boarding home for dogs was scheduled and a donation had been received from the L.G.R.C.[5] Since 2002, The Finnish Association of Animal Protection Associations (SEY) has organized various events during the Animal Week and distributed material to schools.[6] On October 27, 2006, the Polish parliament adopted a resolution on the establishment of 4 October as Animal Day.[7]

In Argentina, this day has been observed on April 29 since 1908, promoted by Ignacio Lucas Albarracín, president of the Animal Protection Association of Buenos Aires. Coincidentally Albarracín would die on the same date in 1926, making it a day to also pay tribute to him for pioneering the animal's rights movement in the country.[8]

Since 2003, World Animal Day has been coordinated by UK based animal welfare charity, Naturewatch Foundation with a new World Animal Day website launched for the 2023 celebration.

Many countries such as Bolivia, Bahamas, China, and Colombia have community driven annual events to promote the global celebration.[9]

Annual Themes

Starting in 2018, Naturewatch Foundation has included specific themes in the day's celebration.[10]

Year Theme
2018 Celebrating human relationship with the bigger and better animal kingdom
2019 Life below water bodies: for the people and the planet
2020 Man and Dog
2021 Forest and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet
2022 Shared Planet
2023 Great or small, love them all
2024 The world is their home too

See also

References

  1. ^ "World Animal Day 2021: Theme, History, Significance, Quotes, Celebration". FRESH NEWS INDIA. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  2. ^ "World Animal Day". World Animal Protection. 2024-08-06. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  3. ^ "World Animal Day - Photos - The Big Picture". Boston.com. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  4. ^ "World Animal Day marked - World News". SINA English. Archived from the original on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  5. ^ "WORLD ANIMAL DAY". The Examiner (Tasmania). Vol. CVII, no. 174. Tasmania, Australia. 1 October 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 19 May 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ SEY Finnish Animal Protection Federation. "Eläinten viikko" [Earlier animal week campaigns] (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  7. ^ Sejm (October 27, 2006). "Uchwała Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 27 października 2006 r. w sprawie ustanowienia Dnia Zwierząt" [Resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of October 27, 2006 on establishing the Day of Animals]. prawo.sejm.gov.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  8. Ministry of Culture (Argentina)
    . Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Monitoring & Evaluation". worldanimal.net. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  10. ^ Fahad (2023-09-30). "World Animal Day - Date, Themes, and Celebration". Earth Reminder. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
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