Pet Product News Editorial Blog:
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Animal Days
By Sherri Collins
Editor, Pet Product News International
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Do you ever wonder where calendar observance days, weeks and months come from? The provenance of historical and religious ones is obvious, of course. And the more cynical among us put Grandparents Day down to the greeting card and florist industries. But who exactly decides that April is “Adopt a Ferret” month or that July 10th is “Don’t Step on a Bee” day? (Like you really need to be reminded not to do this?)
The short answer is apparently anyone with a lot of drive and passion--and free time. Ferret month arrived courtesy of Dawn Miklich, a ferret enthusiast who successfully campaigned for its designation in 2008 by way of a dedicated website and news releases. The “be kind to your feet and bees” day, as far as I can surmise, was created by Thomas & Ruth Roy, under the name of Wellcat Holidays & Herbs, to remind kids and grownups that now is the time when going barefoot can mean getting stung by a bee.
In honor of those who dedicated themselves to getting their favorite animals and/or causes their own special dates on the calendar, what follows are a few of the lesser-known observance days in this merry month of May (which is also Be Kind to Animals Month here in the U.S. and National Pet Month in the U.K.)
My mom will be happy to know that she shares her birthday with Save the Rhino Day on May 1, which was instituted by various conservation groups as a way to draw attention to the plight of this endangered marvelous animal.
May 4 is/was Respect for Chickens day, which was easy for me to observe without even knowing about it since vegetarians are usually very respectful toward chickens--we don’t eat them nor condone factory-farming techniques.
A cat enthusiast and author (www.hugyourcatday.com) has designated May 11 as Hug Your Cat Day, which is something I do frequently anyway.
Jumping ahead (wait for it), we come to May 13: Frog Jumping Day. I’m assuming it refers to actual frogs jumping and not people jumping over frogs, although both would be fun to watch. Actually, the day is in honor of Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” and the county in question holds its fair and frog jumping competition that week (frogtown.org).
A few days later, on May 16, we get to National Sea Monkey Day, which honors the gullibility of every child who clipped out the ad from the back of a comic book and sent money to the designated PO box. Hey, I only did it once.)
Wrapping up the month is World Turtle Day, held every May 23 since 2000. The day was created by the American Tortoise Rescue (founded in 1990) to increase respect for and knowledge of tortoises and turtles everywhere.
Now go out and hug your cat, watch a frog jump and always be kind to turtles, chickens and bees.
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