When: Annually, October 4.
It is obvious to everyone: October 4 is World Animal Day or Animal Day. That almost equals the date of January 1 which equals New Year’s Day. The only question is: Why is it on October 4 World Animal Day? Why not on October 5 or October 2?
Whatever name you want to use, World Animal Day or Animal Day, it doesn’t matter. You know it’s about 4 October. The day in the calendar that equals the day when we pay extra attention to animals worldwide. Not a year goes by without this day passing by.
Origin
The origins of Animal Day date back to the early 20th century. It depends on which story you want to believe. According to some, it has to do with a letter written by Czech Ilse Winter. She wrote a letter to Margaret Ford in 1927. Ford was the president of the International Society for the Protection of Animals at the time, who thought it was a great idea to pay extra attention to the plight of animals on October 4. Winter had chosen the date for a reason. She linked it to the feast day of St Francis of Assisi (1181/1182 – October 3 1226). During his lifetime, this saint cared about the fate of the poorest, and sickest (people who suffered from leprosy and were called lepers at the time). An international Congress of Animal Protection in 1929 in Vienna is said to have subsequently laid the foundations for World Animal Day.
Argentina
It’s a great story. It is not the only story about the origins of World Animal Day. Take the story about the origins of World Animal Day in Argentina. If that story is to be believed, World Animal Day is older. There, the idea of creating a day to pay attention to animals in the country originated in 1908. The idea came from Ignacio Lucas Albarracin. He was the director of what we now know as the Ecoparque de Buenos Aires. At the time, that was a zoo, which had opened its doors to the public in 1888. He was also president of the National Association for the Protection of animals in Argentina. His idea was for the day to take place on April 2. After he died in 1926, it was decided to set the day on April 29, his dying day. For more information on this topic, visit this site (in Spanish).
Florence and Berlin
That doesn’t get us there yet. The only question is what exactly was the place where it began? Was it Florence or Berlin? If you assume it was Hermann Zimmermann who created the first truly international version of World Animal Day, it was in Berlin. It was on October 4, 1925, at the Sport Palast. This was to take place at a gathering of more than 5,000 people. He linked this to the day centred on St Francis of Assisi. There was just one problem, this event ended up not going ahead. The event was rescheduled for October 4, 1929. Nevertheless, Zimmerman continued to do his best to raise awareness of World Animal Day after 1925.
At the congress of the Animal Protection Society in May 1931, it was decided to keep October 4 as World Animal Day.
What’s the real deal? Should we blame Winters and Ford or is it Zimmermann? It seems both were doing something. In their own way. Only internationally, Winters’ letter seems to have been a bit more successful. That one ended up with someone who got something more done. Zimmermann had to wait until 1929 before a first event took place. Then it would be decided at a congress in 1931. This is curious, because in 1930 things really did take place in which the word “Animal Day” recurred. This was so interesting that, for instance, the Dutch press wrote about it.
The Netherlands
In the Netherlands, World Animal Day first took place in 1930. As in other countries. There is no chance that Zimmermann’s lobbying efforts led anywhere.
So what about the story about Ilse Winters? Perhaps it meant that there would have been a congress in 1929, where it was decided that a day would be created. That would then be 1930, the following year. That seems plausible, when you this article reads in the Eindhovensch Dagblad (then with SCH) of October 7, 1930. Indeed, around October 4, the Dutch press passed all sorts of reports that had everything to do with animals. Not only that, the Nieuwe Appeldoornsche Courant wrote about the ‘phenomenon’ Animal Day on September 18, 1930. In it you read nothing at all about Zimmermann.
The newspaper article from the Nieuwe Apeldoornsche Courant of 18 September 1936. Bron: Delpher. The highlighted word Dierendag is (World) Animal Day.
In short, despite all the efforts Zimmermann had made, it really seems that the Winters-Ford ‘construction’ was the instigator for all this. Actually, you may draw a conclusion with that: what is on the English-language Wikipedia page about Animal Day is not correct, and where on the Dutch page is this page would not be out of place…
Not convinced? Then here is the search via Delpher. This article is in Dutch, however.
Eet Geen Dierendag (Eat No Animals Day)
It’s also Eet Geen Dierendag on October 4. Meaning: Eat No Animals Day.
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