Animal Awareness Date

Animal Awareness Date is a rubric of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia (IALA) where we celebrate animal holidays throughout the year to highlight the importance of animals in humans' lives and to remind ourselves to appreciate and care for all creatures of the Earth.

It's World Oceans Day!

“Planet Ocean: Tides Are Changing” is the theme for World Oceans Day 2023 - the UN is joining forces with decision-makers, indigenous leaders, scientists, private sector executives, civil society, celebrities, and youth activists to put the ocean first.

Oceans cover over 70% of the planet. It produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen and it is home to most of Earth’s biodiversity.

Even though all its benefits, the ocean is now in need of support. With 90% of big fish populations depleted, and 50% of coral reefs destroyed, we are taking more from the ocean than can be replenished. We need to work together to create a new balance with the ocean that no longer depletes its bounty but instead restores its vibrancy and brings it new life.

World Oceans Day reminds everyone of the major role the oceans have in everyday life. The purpose of the Day is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world's oceans.

It's World Aquatic Animal Day!

World Aquatic Animal Day is an annual day dedicated to aquatic animals, launched for the first time on April 3, 2020. It was the idea of Amy P. Wilson and was co-founded by Amy P. Wilson and Kathy Hessler. Each year, we work to raise global awareness about these often-forgotten and mistreated nonhuman animals.

Aquatic animals play a critical role in our societies and ecosystems. They are important as species, but they also have value and intrinsic worth as individuals. By “aquatic animals” we mean not only fishes or whales, but also the many other animals who inhabit aquatic habitats such as: amphibians, marine mammals, crustaceans, reptiles, mollusks, aquatic birds, aquatic insects, starfish, and corals.

Aquatic animals urgently need to be considered in policy initiatives, education, advocacy, legal decision-making, and stewardship choices. Efforts to raise awareness of the plight of aquatic animals must rise to meet the immense challenges they face. We must consider our interactions with aquatic animals, our treatment of them, and the often-devastating impacts we are having on them and on their habitats.

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It's International Cheetah Day!

Cheetahs are wild cats native to Africa and Asia and are threatened by three main factors: human activities, habitat loss, and illegal pet trade.

Today we want to highlight the importance to conserve cheetahs and to remind of how important they are to the environment and ecosystem.

Learn more about this species and how you can help and contribute to the conservation of cheetahs.

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Anniversary of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia

Today, the Institute of Animal Law of Asia turned 2 years from the day of its foundation!

We would like to take a moment and thank all our subscribers, partners, and donors for following our activities and supporting us throughout those years!

We are extremely grateful to you all for helping us raise global awareness about the necessity of animal protection all around the globe!

Happy Earth Day!

 

This day is celebrated annually to spread the word about preserving and protecting our health, families, and our livelihoods. The theme for 2022 is Invest in Our Planet. 


For Earth Day 2022, we need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). It’s going to take all of us. All in. Businesses, governments, and citizens — everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable. A partnership for the planet.


As individuals, we have the simple yet effective power to make our voices heard through our choices, our civic actions, and our personal interactions. What each of us does, and how we do it, has a huge ripple effect on our ecosystems, and on the pace of corporate and government action.


Today’s the day to take action not just because you care about the natural world, but because we all live on it. Every one of us needs a healthy Earth to support our jobs, livelihoods, health & survival, and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option — it is a necessity.


A green future is a prosperous future!


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World Aquatic Animal Day

It's World Aquatic Animal Day!

 

This day is an annual day dedicated to aquatic animals and was created to raise awareness about the importance of aquatic animals in our lives! The theme for 2022 is Disentangling the Sustainability Myth in Fishing and Aquaculture.


Today, we wish to raise awareness for these magnificent creatures, the various threats they face, and how we, as human animals, impact them and their habitats. They are valuable to us not only as a society and to the environment but are also individuals with intrinsic value.


Therefore, we invite all of you to a free webinar series held by the Center for Animal Law Studies, Lewis & Clark Law School, where various experts from around the globe will share their knowledge on respective topics.


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World Bear Day

It's World Bear Day!

 

This day was created to raise awareness about the necessity to rescue and protect bears around the world, regardless of the species and natural habitat. 

 

There are eight species of bears around the world, and most of them are facing the threats of global warming and climate change, pollution and habitat issues, exploitation in art, medicine, and cooking, exploitation in the entertainment industry, hunting, and poaching, as well as human-bear conflicts.


However, specifically in many Asian countries, the practice of bear bile farms is continuing which brings suffering and pain to lots of bears. There is an urge to extend legal protections to these animals, in particular with regard to practices involving bears, whether it is entertainment purposes or traditional medicine.

 

How to celebrate?

International Rescue Cat Day

It's International Rescue Cat Day!


Rescued animals play a vital role in our communities as they continuously work to reunite pets with their owners, shelter those in need, and find new homes for animals that are lost without a permanent home or for those animals that, for our own security, shouldn’t be roaming our streets.


By adopting or rescuing cats you provide several benefits to the rescued animals, shelters, and other animals. All animals in the shelters need a second chance. Many are animals that have been lost, given up, or abandoned. Adoption also helps break the cycle of pet overpopulation. Every year, millions of animals around the world are euthanized due to overpopulation. Finally, adoption prevents cruelty in mass breeding facilities.


How to celebrate?

World Pangolin Day

It's World Pangolin Day!


World Pangolin Day is celebrated on the third Saturday of February for the only scaly mammal on earth! This day is another opportunity to raise awareness about these animals that are often poached and trafficked in the wildlife trade.


Pangolins are unique mammals, and there are eight species of pangolins on Earth. Their population is declining due to the illegal trade for meat and traditional Chinese medicine. Four species of pangolins inhabit Asia: Indian Pangolin, Philippine pangolin, Sunda Pangolin, and Chinese Pangolin. The remaining four species inhabit African countries.


How to celebrate?

World Hippo Day

It's World Hippo Day!


This day was created to raise global awareness about these important animals and to shed light on enacting more effective legal protection for them.


The hippopotamus also called the hippo, is a large, mostly herbivorous, semiaquatic mammal and ungulate native to sub-Saharan Africa. In the 20th century, attempts were made to introduce hippos into the US. The “American Hippo Bill”, raised in 1910, proposed introducing hippo ranching in Louisiana, not only to help control a particular plant that was taking over the bayous but also to address the American meat crisis. However, the bill didn’t quite make it through Congress, and so hippos remained in their native Africa until the 1980s, when the infamous drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar (illegally) imported four hippos and took them to his estate in Columbia.


In recent times, the hippo numbers have been on the decline. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed hippos as a vulnerable species in 2006 after establishing that the hippo population had declined by as much as 20% within the previous twenty years. Droughts have led to habitat loss, and the hunting and poaching of hippos, both for their meat and ivory teeth, is also a threat.


How to celebrate?

Lunar New Year 2022!

The team of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia is wishing you a Lunar New Year of 2022 and wonderful holidays during the Spring Festival!

We wish you a thriving, healthy, and lucky year! Thank you for following our activities and supporting our work in favor of animals all around the world!

Happy New Year 2022!

The team of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia is wishing you a Happy New Year of 2022 and wonderful holidays!

The tiger is known as the king of all beasts in many Asian countries. The zodiac sign Tiger is a symbol of strength, exorcising evils, and braveness.

In 2022, we sincerely wish you a joyful year accompanied with new winning for the animals, environment, and the Earth!

International Monkey Day

It's International Monkey Day!


This day was created to improve public awareness about the necessity to protect monkeys all over the globe.


Monkeys play an important role in their native habitats by pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds as they travel. Some monkeys can swim, their webbed toes help them paddle through the water, and they may swim across a stream or river to avoid predators or get to the food. However, at present, these animals are facing a lot of threats from human activities. These include habitat destruction, particularly from the burning and clearing of tropical forests that also emits at least 20% of the global greenhouse gases causing climate change, and the hunting of primates for food and illegal wildlife trade.


Asian countries are inhabited by several monkey species, such as leaf monkeys, macaques, proboscis monkeys, gibbons, snub-nosed monkeys, etc. Like many other species, Asian monkeys are threatened by deforestation, climate change, habitat loss, and, most importantly, the practice of using monkeys in labor is common in some Asian countries.


How to celebrate?

International Animal Rights Day

It's International Animal Rights Day!


This day is celebrated on December 10th annually around the world to highlight that animals have moral value. The holiday is shared with Human Rights Day, as it should be, because animals have the right to be treated with respect, and acts of cruelty against them need to end just as much as for humans.


For hundreds of years, man has been killing and mistreating animals for personal gain. In 1948, the UN passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, following the torture subjected to humans during World War II in concentration camps by Nazi Germany. After this, organizations, associations, and individuals from around the world started demanding that this declaration should be extended to the animals as well.


The whole idea that animals are inferior and live for the sole purpose of catering to the needs and wants of humans is an irrational prejudice against them. Just as certain segments of the human race are suffering due to sexism and racism, animals suffer just as much, if not more, because they can’t defend themselves.


Animals are living beings and have been recognized as creatures capable of feeling basic emotions, such as pain, suffering, fear, as well as creating bonds. There is an urgent need to elevate their status in the legal system across the globe.


How to celebrate?

World Wildlife Conservation Day

It's World Wildlife Conservation Day!


This day was created to raise awareness, reflect, and take action towards issues that are threatening the planet’s wildlife biodiversity balance.


Human interference in the world’s natural ecosystem has been ongoing for centuries. In the modern world, as humans settled in different parts of the world, they cleared land for farming, cut forests for shipbuilding, and began hunting and trapping for profit. Over the years, wildlife hunting and poaching became more common practices, and wildlife populations started to decline across the globe.


Even now, the illegal trade of endangered species on the black market continues to rise. Although governments across the world are trying their best, and, in some cases, succeed to stop these acts, not all species are safe from poachers and hunters. There are other issues with effective conservation of wildlife, such as bribery, lack of prosecution, lack of enforcement, or even lack of legislation.


How to celebrate?

It's International Cheetah Day!


This day was created to highlight the importance of cheetahs and raise awareness about the threats they face.


Cheetahs are the world's fastest land animals and are headed toward extinction, largely due to unprecedented habitat loss and poaching. Approximately only 7100 cheetahs remain globally and that the speedy animal has lost 91% of their historic habitat range. Due to human development, cheetahs' habitat decreased from a historical range totaling about 13 million square miles (33,056,767 square km) before 1900, to now only covering about 280,000 square miles (724,514 square km), according to the researchers.


The threats cheetahs face are largely caused by humans. These threats include overhunting, habitat loss, the exotic-pet trade, and illegal trafficking of cheetahs' body parts.


In Asia, specifically, there is a species of the Asiatic cheetah, which is classified as Critically Endangered under the IUCN Red List, subspecies of cheetah surviving today only in Iran. There were several projects launched to conserve the species, including ex-situ conservation, semi-captive breeding, etc.


How to celebrate?

Adopt a Turkey Month

It's Adopt a Turkey Month!


November - due to the celebration of Thanksgiving Day in the United States - was named Adopt a Turkey Month! The major reason for creating the holiday is to highlight the importance of turkeys as individuals since they are the main victims of the plate.


Turkeys are intelligent animals who enjoy having their feathers stroked and who like listening to music, with which they will often loudly sing along. In nature, these animals can fly 55 miles an hour, run 35 miles an hour, and live up to 10 years, however, in factory farms, they oftentimes do not have sufficient space, are poorly treated, and abused.


Approximately 245 million turkeys are raised and killed for their flesh every year in the U.S. and are not legally protected by federal law. More than 46 million of them are killed each year at Thanksgiving alone, and more than 22 million die at Christmas.


How to celebrate?

World Numbat Day

It's World Numbat Day!


This day was created to celebrate the unique mammal of Western Australia and to encourage action to conserve this species.


The numbat is a small marsupial that was once found across most of southern Australia but now is restricted to a few isolated pockets in southwest Western Australia and two small re-introduced populations in New South Wales and South Australia.


There are approximately less than 1000 species left in the wild due to the species facing the threat of extinction. Numbats are mainly threatened by habitat loss and introduced predators, such as foxes and feral cats.


An intensive research and conservation program since 1980 faced success in increasing the numbat population significantly, and reintroductions to fox-free areas have begun. Despite the efforts, the numbats remain at risk of extinction and are classified as Endangered under the IUCN Red List.


How to celebrate?

World Vegan Day

It's World Vegan Day!


This day was created in 1994 by Louise Wallis and is celebrated annually on November 1st to promote the importance of veganism and to raise awareness about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.


Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude - as far as is possible and practicable - all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans, and the environment. There is an urgent need to raise public awareness about how veganism could help save millions of lives. 


How to celebrate?

It's World Kangaroo Day!


This day was created to raise awareness about the kangaroos and promote effective legal protection for them.


The major threats for kangaroos include loss of habitat, bushfires, drought, predators, legal and illegal hunting, car accidents, fences, and animal cruelty - all are driving local populations of kangaroos to extinction.


The recent catastrophic bushfires in Australia wiped out more than 3 billion wildlife, with 25% of bushland habitat destroyed in the state of NSW. Millions of dollars were raised to care for this wildlife yet despite this utter devastation the government allowed the commercial shooting of kangaroos to continue. The number of kangaroos remaining in Australia is unknown.


World Kangaroo Day shines a light on the problems facing Australia’s kangaroo. There is an urgent need to spread the word and educate people because the commercial kangaroo industry may lead to a fatal outcome for these animals.


How to celebrate?

Pit Bull Awareness Day

It's Pit Bull Awareness Day in the U.S.!


This day was created in 2007 to raise awareness about the truth about pit bulls and promote legal protection for them.


Pit bulls are commonly known to be used in dogfighting, a cruel practice involving dogs in the blood sport by pitting them against one another in a ring. After the fight, dogs usually have serious injuries, broken bones, bleedings, etc. Upon the end of the match, dogs are not euthanized with humane methods, rather they are tortured or beaten.


There have been lots of myths about pit bulls over the decades, as being ferocious, malicious, and dangerous dogs. An image far from the truth and based on the actions of maligned humans, not the animals themselves. All animals are individuals with unique personalities, being capable of feeling joy and pain. There are no "bad" dogs - there are only dogs who have been abused or neglected upon which they become aggressive and fearful.


How to celebrate?

Reptile Awareness Day

It's Reptile Awareness Day in the U.S.!


This day was created to promote education, conservation, and appreciation for reptiles. This day is also another opportunity to learn about the reptiles' natural habitats and the ecological threats that they are facing.


Currently, there are over 10 000 species and an additional 2700 subspecies of reptiles in the world. Habitat loss and degradation is one of the greatest threats to the reptile populations and occurs from a variety of sources, including urban/suburban development, aquatic habitat alteration from water withdrawals and stream diversions, water pollution, and off-road vehicle use in terrestrial habitats. Other threats include introduced invasive species, environmental pollution, disease, and unsustainable use.


Reptiles play a fundamental role in the entire ecosystem. As one part of the greater food chain, they prevent overpopulation and provide food for hungry predators, especially when they are young. Some of the most venomous snakes in the world such as the Indian cobra prevent the spread of disease-carrying rodents, even in urban centers, so their usefulness often outweighs their danger. Crocodiles and alligators prevent the overpopulation of fish species in coastal regions and wetlands, which is pivotal in keeping these aquatic ecosystems healthy and balanced.


How to celebrate?

International Sloth Day

It's International Sloth Day!


This day was created by the foundation AIUNAU, a program dedicated to the conservation and rehabilitation of wildlife in Columbia. Per AIUNAU: “There is a lot that sloths can teach us — respect, tenderness, joy.”


Sloths are a group of arboreal Neotropical xenarthran mammals, constituting the suborder Folivora, and there are two types, which are the two-toed and three-toed sloths.


There are six subspecies of sloths that can be found in Central America and South America, all of which are threatened by deforestation and degradation of their habitat (tropical forests), and by illegal trafficking. Unfortunately, these factors often result in fatal outcomes for these animals. Organizations responsible for the protection of the species in Central America and Colombia estimate that between 80% - 90% of trafficked sloths die in the process.


Of all the species, the pygmy sloth is the only one that is classified as endangered. Over the last decade, the population of the pygmy sloth has decreased by 80%. There are less than 100 pygmy sloths left in the world, and this makes them one of the most endangered mammals in the world. Due to shrinking habitats, pygmy sloths are expected to become extinct by 2022.


How to celebrate?

It's World Migratory Bird Day!


This day was created to increase the level of awareness about the threats – both general and specific – that birds are facing. In 2021, this day is observed twice, on May 8th and October 9th. The theme of this year is "Sing, Fly, Soar - Like a Bird!" By comparing their experiences and concerns, sharing their stories and activities, people around the world will make their voices and actions reach out even further, throughout the flyways, underlying the fact that bird conservation is, indeed, a global issue.


Migratory birds all across the globe are threatened by habitat loss and illegal hunting as well as from poisoning, pollution and collision with man-made objects, such as glass-covered buildings and powerlines. Climate change is additional pressure on migratory birds by adversely affecting habitats they need for breeding, resting, and refueling along the way. The changing climate is also impacting the annual cycles of birds, affecting the timing of migration and reproduction and causing mismatches in food availability.


Migratory birds are also threatened by light pollution, which disorients birds who are flying at night, leading them to collide with buildings. Approximately 2000 of the world’s 11 000 species of birds do migrate, some covering enormous distances, like the Arctic Tern or the Bar-tailed Godwit.


How to celebrate?


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View our past Animal Awareness Dates here.