Veronika Wild

-Image courtesy of Naturewatch Foundation By the time you read this, World Animal Day  may be over, but some events continue throughout October and that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider some of the campaigns which are currently underway, or get ideas for next year. In fact, why wait? Let’s make every day World Animal Day as the Naturewatch Foundation would like us to do. The date chosen is for the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals. The first World Animal Day was organised by Heinrich Zimmermann in 1925. Since 2003 it has been hosted by UK-based Animal Welfare Organisation, Naturewatch Foundation, which has almost 100 ambassadors in 70 countries around the world and 50 million people who now celebrate or participate in World Animal Day. This year’s theme is about seeing the world through their eyes. Animals are in dire need all over the world, but many previous campaigns are starting to bear fruit. For instance, more and more countries are banning ...

  -Image by Copilot Thank you to Domenic Dyer and A Humane World for Animals  who alerted me to most of these.   Wins for Cats and Dogs As of June 2025, the European Union has passed strong laws to ensure better treatment of domestic animals -particularly cats and dogs, and to harmonise laws right across the European Union with respect to unregulated breeding, puppy mills , online sales, non -essential surgeries on animals and other regulations such as breeding for looks. By way of example, dogs such as pugs and bulldogs shouldn’t be bred to enhance their brachycephalic features -their pushed in faces and shortened skulls, since these often result in breathing difficulties. Leaving dogs on chains for long periods or using choke or pronged collars are also being heavily restricted. Clear and uniform standards have been set with respect to how and how often female animals may be bred and every cat or dog sold, adopted or moved across borders must be microchipped and regist...