October 4 - World Animal Day

Posted on October 4, 2021

This is an update of my post published on October 4, 2010:

This worldwide holiday, which began in 1931, celebrates animals and their relationship to humanity. It started as a way of bringing attention to the plight of endangered species, but it has come to encompass all sorts of events and celebrations—from vaccinating dogs to holding animal art competitions to collecting fur coats for use as blankets at animal shelters!

Click the World Animal Day website to find out what’s happening in your area.

This is a day to…

…pamper your pets. By which I don’t mean buying your dog a ballgown or a diamond collar!

Instead, I’m talking about taking the time for a cuddly grooming session with all the stuff your pet actually enjoys (brushing?), or a great play session, or washing their bedding and their water bowl and making everything fresh and nice.

…spay or neuter your pet, or update its vaccinations.

…learn more about endangered animals, perhaps using these World Wildlife Fund “toolkits.”

…adopt a stray cat or dog.

…”adopt” an animal cause.

…take action to help the environment.

We humans cause a lot of problems for the environment, what with pollution, climate change, loss of forest, and so forth. But we are also able to escape some of the problems we cause. We build indoor spaces with filtered air and water and air conditioning, for example, and stay more comfortable in an increasingly uncomfortable Earth.

But animals can’t as easily escape pollution and warming and also can’t always cope with loss of habitat. Not just individual animals suffer and die—whole entire species suffer and go extinct.