In recent weeks, TIR once again welcomed two distinguished guests who are renowned experts in animal welfare: Sue Leary, president of the Alternatives Research & Development Foundation and former president of the American Anti-Vivisection Society, has been campaigning for laboratory animals and animal-free research methods in the USA and internationally for more than 30 years. She has now taken a step back, but is still active in the cause of animals used in research. On one of her trips, she visited us for the second time to search our library archives for older contemporary documents for her work.

Another guest was Wim DeKok, founder, co-founder and board member of numerous successful international organisations, including the World Federation for Animals, the Species Survival Network and the European Alliance for Rescue Centres and Sanctuaries. With around 50 years of experience in animal welfare and animal rights organisations, he grew up on a Dutch dairy farm and became the ‘village vegetarian’ at the age of 16, making him a pioneer of his time. His own impressive collection is part of the Animal Rights and Animal Welfare Special Collection at North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries.

His research into the origins of World Animal Day on 4 October led him to our library archives. During his visit, he told the TIR team about the first documented World Animal Day gathering on 24 March 1925 at the Sportpalast in Berlin, which was attended by over 5,000 participants from all over the world. It was only later that 4 October, the anniversary of the death of Francis of Assisi (founder of the Franciscan Order), was chosen as the fixed date for World Animal Day. The Polish-German author and journalist Heinrich Zimmermann played a central role in this, campaigning for the promotion of World Animal Day. The intention behind this was, and still is, to dedicate one day of the year to animals and their concerns. In a world dominated by human interests, the so-called silent creatures should be given a visible and widely known platform that encourages people from all countries, parties and generations to make a contribution to animals at their own discretion.

TIR was delighted to welcome Wim and Sue as guests and would like to thank them both warmly for their many years of important work on behalf of animals. And, of course, it is also a pleasure to be able to make a small contribution to this work with the TIR library.