Do Something Special For World Animal Day

  On October 4th 1931, the first World Animal Day was held as a way trying to highlight the plight of endangered species around the world. Not just focusing on the rarest of the world's animals though, World Animal Day is now an international day of recognition of the importance of sharing our planet with other species.

Held on the same day every year as the fourth of October is the Feast Day of the patron saint of animals, St Francis of Assisi, World Animal Day also marks the first day of World Animal Week which runs until October 10th and extends the need of increasing awareness about how much pressure we are putting on animal species in their natural habitats.

Although the cycle of evolution naturally involves the creation and then extinction of animal species, people have caused so much devastation to animal populations and their surrounding environments that it would be naive to think that we can just sit back and watch it all happen in front of us. Something special should be done by us all.

In order to celebrate World Animal Day this year, A-Z Animals will be donating the remainder of the stock from the recently closed Sammy the Sheep's Shop, to a children's hospice in East Anglia. People are animals too and we strongly feel that our gorgeous animal toys will do so much more for these children than for us.

Following on from that, everyday during World Animal Week a new animal blog article will be added profiling some of the world's most threatened species. This will not only focus on those animals that are listed as Critically Endangered, but also those that are more common yet are under threat nonetheless in their natural surroundings.