International Homeless Animals' Day

August 20,  marks the  International Homeless Animals Day. It is an effort to raise awareness about the extreme overpopulation affecting animal shelters, The International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR) will hold events and candlelight vigils across the world in honor of those animals that have lost their lives due to overpopulation.

            

 

In 1992, ISAR introduced International Homeless Animals’ Day as an innovative educational vehicle with a purpose of informing society of the global tragedy that overwhelms animal shelters each year – pet overpopulation. Since the conception of International Homeless Animals’ Day, ISAR has reserved the third Saturday of August, commemorating the Day annually, to promote new campaigns, programs, and ideas on the solution to the pet overpopulation epidemic: spay/neuter.

Every year more than 4.5 million dogs and cats die in local animal shelters due to a lack of space. For the past 19 years,  ISAR has promoted new ideas and efforts to maintain the pet population with spay and neuter programs.

Event Schedule for International Homeless Animals' Day: August 20, 2011

Last year, the U.S. Postal Service released this pane of 10 special stamps entitled "Animal Rescue: Adopt A Shelter Pet". The stamps received a boost from talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, a well-known advocate for pet adoption - and Halo, a pet food company she co-owns. After introducing the stamps on the Ellen DeGeneres Show last March, USPS and Halo launched a "Stamps to the Rescue" campaign. Halo set a goal of feeding 1 million shelter dogs and cats by the end of 2010 - and delivered on its promise. Halo has donated food to more than 100 shelters throughout the United States.

The stamps feature photographs of five cats and five dogs taken by veteran stamp photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce. All ten animals were adopted from a shelter in New Milford, CT.

 

This special stamp issue seeks to raise awareness of responsible dog ownership and support the dedicated work of organisations re-homing lost and abandoned dogs. The stamps were  issued by Australia Post  in 2010 .

The UK  released a series of stamps celebrating the 150th anniversary of animal rescue organization Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.  The postage feature seven dogs and three cats who used to reside in the home, but who now are living it up in their new forever homes. 

Love and Care for animals

These stamps were issued by Australia Post in  October 2010 to draw attention to the importance of Australian wildlife carers and their ability to return animals to their native habitat after injury or illness.