TIR has been committed to a continuous improvement of the legal protection for animals since 1996. We have become the largest animal welfare organization in Europe with a focus on legal aspects of the human-animal relationship. With our resolute groundwork, we have achieved a great deal in the last twenty years for sustainable animal protection and have established ourselves as a competency center for animals in law, ethics, and society. Last night, during his official speech at the anniversary celebration in Zurich, Jörg Röthlisberger, President of the Foundation Board, acknowledged TIR's achievements.

TIR also bestowed the TIR Animal Law Award for the first time. The award is meant to honor individuals or institutions for their outstanding achievements in the field of national or international animal welfare law. The first recipient of the TIR Animal Law Award is the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) in Portland (Oregon/USA). CALS is regarded as the world's epicenter for training animal welfare lawyers. It offers students and practitioners almost unlimited opportunities to study and acquire further training in animal law and is thus a pioneer whose importance extends far beyond the USA.

CALS can be considered an absolute forerunner and international example for the education in animal welfare law. Following the laudatory speech by Dr. Gieri Bolliger, Executive Director of TIR, Professor Pamela D. Frasch, Founder and Managing Director of CALS, and Professor Kathy Hessler received the first TIR Animal Law Award.

Today, Wednesday March 16, at 6:30 pm, Pamela Frasch will be giving a public presentation at the University of Zurich (Rämistrasse 69, lecture hall SOC 1-106) on the subject "Animal Law in the 21th Century: A Growing Movement in America and Beyond". TIR is co-organizing the lecture and is looking forward to a large attendance of interested listeners. The flyer for the event can be found here.

We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all the benefactors, friends, and people who have backed us in various ways during the last twenty years. Without your help, TIR would not have become what it is today: an organization committed to improving the legal protection for animals through well-founded groundwork and a great amount of dedication. However, there is still so much to be done, which is why we hope, of course, that we can continue to rely on your faithful support in the future so that we can focus all our energy on improving the welfare of animals..

Thank you very much and happy birthday TIR – we are looking forward to the next twenty years!