The World Animal Day is celebrated every year on 4th October. A day that also coincides with the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint for all animals. Cynologist (or the one who specializes in the care and training of dogs), Heinrich Zimmermann from Germany celebrated this day for the first time when he chose to address the plight of the animals and initiate work for their protection, both in the wild and domestic world, by organizing an event towards this cause at Sport Palace in Berlin.
World Animal Day is also known as the Animal Lovers Day as it encourages love, care and protection of animals through the actions of individuals and organizations that work for the welfare of domestic and wild animals, a concept that is strongly resonated at STRAW India.
This year, the theme of the World Animal Day 2021 was ‘Forest and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet.’
STRAW India, an NGO that works on sowing seeds of compassion by instilling in children a love for animals through their Stories of Kindness Session recently conducted a series of webinar workshops for around 500 children from different schools. Schools that participated include:
- The British School, New Delhi
- The Delhi World Public School, NOIDA
- Canadian International School, Bangalore
- St Anthony’s, New Delhi
- Paul George Global School, New Delhi
The chosen animal for this year, 2021 was the ‘Red Panda’, an endangered species of animal that lives in the eastern belt of the Himalayan region. In India, it is found in the states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and in countries such as Nepal and Bhutan.
The children ranging from 6 years to 13 years of age participated in different activities such as Poster Making, Story Writing, Quiz, Documentary Film watching, while learning interesting facts about the animal and understanding the significance of the Animal Day. Through their beautiful artwork and stories, they expressed the challenges faced by the Red Panda-hunting for its fur and destruction of its habitat.
Towards the end of the 1-hour long workshops, the students pledged to conserve all wildlife species by not shopping for products for which animals were killed and by planting more trees to protect the animals’ homes. They were awarded certificates of participation and the winners received special STRAW mugs which says “I am an Animal Ambassador.”