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World Animal Day 2019 broke all previous records!
World Animal Day - a special opportunity for everyone who cares about animals
WORLD ANIMAL DAY 2019 BROKE ALL PREVIOUS RECORDS!
Thanks to thousands of animal lovers like you, World Animal Day was an unprecedented success on social media this year!
We asked the world to celebrate animals on October 4 – and the world delivered!
- The hashtag, #WorldAnimalDay, trended in 56 countries – an increase of 20 from 2018!
- It reached 39 million people around the world!
- Translations used included Hindi, French, Italian, German, Chinese and Greek. The Spanish hashtag, #DiaMundialDeLosAnimales, also trended!
- Variations on the official #WorldAnimalDay hashtag included #WorldAnimalDay2019, #AnimalWelfareDay, #InternationalDayOfAnimals, #AnimalsDay, and #WorldAnimalsDay – the reach might have been even wider if the same hashtag had been used by everyone!
Other celebratory days also fell on the same day, the most popular of which were #NationalTacoDay and #WorldSmileDay. Despite this, #WorldAnimalDay held its own, and trended worldwide all day.
In fact, some organisations (including us) used #WorldAnimalDay in conjunction with #WorldSmileDay as the two are a perfect combination – after all, who doesn’t love an animal and a smile?
Celebrities, authors, artists, sports stars and public figures all used social media to raise awareness of the day and its primary purpose – to raise the status of animals worldwide.
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Well-known online supporters included:
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Media outlets around the world played an important role in raising awareness. Online articles featured in Newsweek, The Daily Sabah (Turkey’s top English newspaper), The Times of India and the UK’s Standard. Topics of the articles, and numerous blogs, varied from the illegal wildlife trade, to legislation, to pet welfare.
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Other media support came from:
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Children’s TV stations and programmes also got involved, including Clangers, Bagpuss and Tiny Pop TV.
In Egypt, World Animal Day Ambassador, Mai Hamada, appeared on Cruise TV (Nile TV International) to raise awareness of her work with Alexandria Turtle and Wildlife Rescue.
Pat Chan, our Panamanian Ambassador, was interviewed on BCTV’s ‘A Close-Up Look at Animal Welfare Issues’ in the USA. She spoke to American World Animal Day Ambassador, Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein, about the highly successful spay/neuter program Pat created at Spay Panama, which is also used in other countries.
Over in the UK, actors Rula Lenska and Maureen Lipman appeared on ITV’s ‘Lorraine’ show to tell approximately 750,000 viewers how, and why, they became involved with World Animal Day. Some of their popular ‘Coronation Street’ colleagues posed for photos with the World Animal Day 'I Care About Animals' poster.
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As a patron of Naturewatch Foundation (the British animal welfare charity that has coordinated World Animal Day since 2003), Rula also filmed a special message for October 4, as did fellow patrons Dan Richardson, Wendy Turner-Webster and Anneka Svenska (whose video featured ‘Shark Whisperer’ and conservationist, Cristina Zenato).
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Sports personalities and clubs shared their love of animals:
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Businesses and workplaces were keen to show their philanthropic side by getting involved to improve the lives of animals. Some donated a portion of their sales to animal welfare charities.
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Others raised awareness of the day on social media, including:
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We were pleasantly surprised by countries expressing their support for World Animal Day on social media, including Canada, Spain and Russia! Numerous politicians around the world tweeted for animals – far too many to list here!
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Governments and other establishments also spoke up for the voiceless:
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Schools, universities, monuments, libraries, museums and many others spread the message that we should all act for animals – before it’s too late!
Organisations that usually care for people showed that their compassion extends to animals by highlighting the special relationship between humans and animals, and the benefits they bring…
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Police forces were particularly active this year, especially Ukraine’s patrol police, who are currently undergoing Naturewatch Foundation’s well-received training course, which focuses on the link between animal crime and other types of criminal activity. Officers from 21 Ukrainian cities took part in an ‘Animals Matter’ social media campaign.
Unsurprisingly, the most prolific participants were those involved in animal rescue on a daily basis. We were astonished by the response from the animal welfare community this year! October 4 is a perfect opportunity for all charities to promote their work, and for smaller organisations to raise their profile and gain new supporters.
Here's just a small selection of #WorldAnimalDay tweeters:
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If you don’t already support an animal welfare charity, please consider raising funds or awareness for your favourite cause next World Animal Day!
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However, October 4 isn’t just about sharing a hashtag on social media.
People around the world spoke up for animals in a variety of other ways – making pledges, signing petitions, volunteering or even by organising an event!
The events that were added to the website this year were more impressive than ever before!
If you’d like to find out more, or need ideas for #WorldAnimalDay 2020, we’ve compiled a few of this year’s fantastic events...
