World Animal Day

International day celebrated on October 4

World Animal Day
World Animal Day logo in English
Official name	World Animal Day and Alfred Meades’ Birthday Best Breeders : Ariana Zo(USA), Major Shahariar Islam Konok (Bangladesh), Hari Pandey (India)
Type	International
Date	October 4
Next time	October 4, 2024 (2024-10-04)
Frequency	annual
First time	March, 1925
Related to	Feast of Saint Francis

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 cynologist Heinrich Zimmermann. He organized the first World Animal Day on March 24, 1925, at the Sport Palace in Berlin, Germany. Over 5,000 people attended this first event. The activity was originally scheduled for October 4, to align with the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology. 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.^[2]^[3]

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.^[4] Since 2002, The Finnish Association of Animal Protection Associations (SEY) has organized various events during the Animal Week and distributed material to schools.^[5] On October 27, 2006, the Polish parliament adopted a resolution on the establishment of 4 October as Animal Day.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.

References

^ "World Animal Day 2021: Theme, History, Significance, Quotes, Celebration". FRESH NEWS INDIA. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
^ "World Animal Day - Photos - The Big Picture". Boston.com. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
^ "World Animal Day marked - World News". SINA English. Archived from the original on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
^ "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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ "Día del Animal y homenaje al Dr. Ignacio Lucas Albarracín". museosarmiento.cultura.gob.ar (in Spanish). Sarmiento Historical Museum, Ministry of Culture (Argentina). Retrieved 4 February 2024.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to World Animal Day.

Official website
World Animal Welfare Day
Naturewatch Foundation - Coordinators of WAD

Animal rights

Topics (overviews, concepts, issues, cases)

Overviews

Concepts

Issues

Animal agriculture	Animal product Battery cage Bile bear Chick culling Concentrated animal feeding operation Fish farming Fur farming Fur trade Insect farming Intensive animal farming Intensive pig farming Livestock Poultry farming Slaughterhouse Wildlife farming Working animal Feedback (pork industry) Foam depopulation Ventilation shutdown
Animal testing	Alternatives to animal testing Animal testing on non-human primates Animal testing regulations Labcorp Drug Development Great ape research ban Green Scare Huntingdon Life Sciences Model organism Nafovanny Operation Backfire Vivisection
Animal welfare	Animal euthanasia Cruelty to animals Pain in animals Pain in amphibians Pain in cephalopods Pain in crustaceans Pain in fish Pain in invertebrates Pain and suffering in laboratory animals Welfare of farmed insects
Fishing	Commercial fishing Fishing bait Recreational fishing
Wild animals	Culling wildlife Hare coursing Hunting International primate trade Ivory trade Predation problem Seal hunting Wild animal suffering Wildlife management
Other	Abandoned pets Animal sacrifice Animal slaughter Animal trial Animals in sport Live food Live export

Cases

Methodologies

Observances

Advocates (academics, writers, activists)

Academics
and writers

Contemporary

Historical

Activists

Contemporary

Historical

Movement (groups, parties)

Groups

Contemporary

Historical

Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society
Canadian Anti-Vivisection Society
Humanitarian League (1891–1919)
Oxford Group

Parties

Animal Justice Party (Australia)
Animal Politics EU (Europe)
Animal Protection Party of Canada (Canada)
Animal Justice Party of Finland (Finland)
Animals' Party (Sweden)
Animalist Movement (Italy)
Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (Spain)
DierAnimal (Belgium)
Human Environment Animal Protection (Germany)
Italian Animalist Party (Italy)
Party for the Animals (Netherlands)
People Animals Nature (Portugal)
V-Partei³ (Germany)

Activism

Animal Rights National Conference

Media (books, films, periodicals, albums)

Books

On Abstinence from Eating Animals (3rd century)
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
The Rights of Animals (1838)
Animals' Rights (1892)
Evolutional Ethics and Animal Psychology (1897)
The Universal Kinship (1906)
The New Ethics (1907)
Animals, Men and Morals (1971)
Animal Liberation (1975)
The Case for Animal Rights (1983)
Morals, Reason, and Animals (1987)
Zoos and Animal Rights (1993)
Animals, Property, and the Law (1995)
The Lives of Animals (1999)
Eternal Treblinka (2001)
Do Animals Have Rights? (2005)
Striking at the Roots (2008)
An American Trilogy (2009)
An Introduction to Animals and Political Theory (2010)
Animal Rights Without Liberation (2012)
Political Animals and Animal Politics (2014)
Animal (De)liberation (2016)
Sentientist Politics (2018)
Wild Animal Ethics (2020)
Animal Ethics in the Wild (2022)
Making a Stand for Animals (2022)

Films

The Animals Film (1981)
A Cow at My Table (1998)
Shores of Silence (2000)
The Witness (2000)
Meet Your Meat (2002)
Legally Blonde 2 (2003)
The Meatrix (2003)
Peaceable Kingdom (2004)
Earthlings (2005)
Behind the Mask (2006)
Your Mommy Kills Animals (2007)
The Cove (2009)
Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home (2009)
Forks Over Knives (2011)
Vegucated (2011)
An Apology to Elephants (2013)
Speciesism: The Movie (2013)
The Ghosts in Our Machine (2013)
Unlocking the Cage (2016)
Dominion (2018)
Seaspiracy (2021)

Periodicals

Journals	Animal Sentience Between the Species Cahiers antispécistes Etica & Animali Journal of Animal Ethics Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism The Animals' Defender
Magazines	Arkangel Bite Back Muutoksen kevät No Compromise Satya

Albums

Animal Liberation (1987)
Tame Yourself (1991)
Manifesto (2008)
Salvation of Innocents (2014)
Onward to Freedom (2014)

Fairs and exhibitions

Holocaust on your Plate (2003)

Category ( 137 )

v t e Francis of Assisi
Organisations	Order of Friars Minor (Custody of the Holy Land) Order of Saint Clare Secular Franciscan Order Third Order of Saint Francis
Works by Francis	Canticle of the Sun
Created	Sanctuary of Greccio Nativity scene (live)
Honors	Feast of Saints Francis and Catherine World Animal Day
Literature about	Little Flowers of St. Francis
Visual art	Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (Caravaggio) Saint Francis in Meditation (Caravaggio) Saint Francis in Prayer (Caravaggio) Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (Caravaggio) Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (Giotto) São Francisco (Gonçalves) St Francis (Zurbarán) Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (van Eyck) St. Francis in Ecstasy (Bellini) Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (studio of El Greco) St. Francis in Ecstasy (Zurbarán)
Music	"All Creatures of Our God and King" The Canticle of the Sun (Sowerby) Le Laudi (Suter oratorio) Légende No. 1 (Liszt) Laudato si' (Reulein oratorio) Quatre petites prières de saint François d'Assise
Stage	Nobilissima Visione (1938 ballet) Saint François d'Assise (1983 Messiaen opera) Samstag aus Licht (1983 Stockhausen opera)
Films	Frate Sole (1918) The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) Francis of Assisi (1961) Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) Francesco (1989) St. Francis (2002)
Related	List of places named after Saint Francis Madonna of Foligno Wolf of Gubbio Discalced Prayer of Saint Francis Society of Saint Francis Pope Francis "The Sermon of St. Francis" (poem) Pranchiyettan & the Saint
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