World Animal Day - wildlife and conservation events from around the world

October 2024

Just a couple of weeks ago it was World Animal Day. And this day of action humbles us every single year with how many groups, organisations and individuals offer their time and energy to help the wildlife around them, often without the support and funding from a large international organisation.

Working in nature conservation can be a challenge in an ever-changing and complex world. So, we wanted to share some of the amazing events from this World Animal Day, allowing us to reflect on the positive actions being taken by groups and communities across the globe to address issues in their region and to make a difference:

Children’s events

The Greenfingers Wildlife Initiative, in Nigeria, held a day of celebration for children from different schools which included writing conservation stories, an animal painting class, an animal craft making session and a movie screening.

In Malawi, the Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals held an Animal Kindness Club where children were taught about the importance of animal welfare, compassion, and responsible care, as taught in the clubs while encouraging young learners to take active roles as advocates for animals within their communities.

Two of the Pawtectors’ junior ‘animal ambassadors’, from Virginia in the US, created a selfie sign challenge to encourage other young animal lovers to share how much they care about animals.

The Royal Masonic School for girls hosted a forest school experience for nursery age children, teaching them about the wildlife that lives in hedgerows. In the afternoon, Year 3 learnt about pondlife.

Conservation and co-habitation events

In Manipur, India, People for Animals relocated rescued wildlife (12 snakes and 1 monitor lizard) to Langol Reserve Forest and trained new members on the handling and identification of wildlife in distress.

Born Free Kenya held a collaborative tree-planting and litter clean up event with organisations such as Kenya Wildlife Service and the Amboseli Ecosystem Trust.

The Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative, In Australia, held a ‘respectful cohabitation event’. During the event, there were educational talks, a guided bird watching walk, wildlife conservation stalls. The event was attended by Blue Mountains Bird Observers, WIRES, Wombat Rescue, Action for Animals Blue Mountains and the Blue Mountains Conservation Society.


Educational events

• Elephanatics, based in Canada, offered teachers and educators a unique opportunity to invite via Zoom a Mara Elephant Project ranger or researcher into their classroom. This gave students the opportunity to interact with a Kenyan conservationist and learn more about the work being done to protect elephants and their habitats in the Greater Mara Ecosystem.

• The International Organisation for the Protection of Animals Italy created resources to address the issue of domesticated tortoises and turtles being abandoned, such as the Trachemys scripta, which has the potential to become a disruptive invasive species when released into the wild.

Peaceful demonstrations and protests

• A peaceful protest was held in Ireland outside Leinster House, demanding that the Irish Government act upon animal cruelty and welfare concerns.

• In South Africa, Four Paws held a demonstration outside of Parliament, which displayed a 1.5m tapestry and other forms of ‘artivism’ as a way of calling politicians to include animals within policies and law.
  
  

Our activities at Naturewatch Foundation

As coordinators of World Animal Day, at Naturewatch Foundation we always end up incredibly busy. This year, we wanted to make time to contribute in more ways offline. Our campaign managers attended animal welfare talks and events in Wales, Ireland, France and Estonia to talk about our campaigns.

We also received a visit from local MP, Max Wilkinson on World Animal Day in the morning, and in the afternoon we delivered food to Cheltenham Animal Shelter for all of the 72 animal residents they currently have there.

Beyond a day of action

World Animal Day is always an inspiring initiative to be involved with and every year we see the benefit that it can have for animal welfare and conservation organisations to share messages, attract new supporters and to fundraise. We have seen year on year the power that community engagement and education has in delivering positive results for animals in a way that can be maintained. We regularly see work addressing the interconnectedness of human, planetary and animal health.

We also see clearly in peoples’ work how strongly they care about the natural world and its inhabitants and how much appetite there is for collaboration and partnership working, as also reflected within the Wildlife and Countryside Link coalition!

We are encouraged by the early positive steps for animal welfare in this new Parliament, particularly the introduction of three vital Private Members' Bills aimed at ending the importation and sale of fur, combating puppy and kitten smuggling, and limiting the sale of fireworks that cause distress to countless animals. We urge the new government to build on this momentum and adopt a comprehensive animal protection strategy

We also hope to work with Link colleagues following the election, as we take further steps forward on wildlife crime, such as on the ‘Make Wildlife Count’ campaign.