Oct. 4 (UPI) -- World Animal Day, an annual day of action for animal welfare on Oct. 4, was founded by a German writer in 1925.
Heinrich Zimmermann, a German writer and animal lover, founded World Animal Day on March 24, 1925, and the holiday was moved to Oct. 4 in 1929 to coincide with the Catholic Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology who was said to have preached to animals.