Be Kind to Animals Week Turns 100

Celebrating 100 years of helping dogs, cats and other animals in need, the oldest commemorative week in U.S. history is taking place from May 3 – 9, 2015.

To mark the American Humane Association’s centennial salute to compassionate education, a year-long “Kindness 100″ campaign has been launched complete with a national media tour, instructional roadshow to schools with a traveling museum aboard a fleet of Red Star Rescue trucks which save animals in disasters, and a www.Kindness100.org website, which includes:

• a peek into Be Kind to Animal Week’s past
• information to help instill in the next generation the need to care for all creatures great and small
• official downloadable proclamations for local, state and federal officials
• a Kindness 100 pledge

Striving for 1 million signatures, the Kindness 100 pledge is an oath to:

• purchase humanely raised products in an effort to ensure the welfare of 10 billion farm animals.
• look for the American Humane Association’s “No Animals Were Harmed” credit at the end of films of television programs, which signifies the safety of the 100,000 animal actors in the entertainment industry.
• always choose the option of pet adoption when welcoming a new furry member into your heart and home to help lower the sad statistic of 6-8 million companion animals who find themselves in the U.S. shelter system each year.

By taking part in the campaign, not only will dog devotees become Honorary Chairs of Be Kind to Animals Week, they will also be following in the footsteps of the many animal-loving luminaries who have made Be Kind to Animals Week such a success over the years, including:

• Milton Berle
• Bruce Boxleitner (star of Tron, Babylon 5)
• Carole Burnett
• Casper the Friendly Ghost
• U.S. President Bill Clinton
• Norm Crosby
• Doris Day
• Dennis the Menace
• Richard Dreyfuss
• Patty Duke
• Clint Eastwood
• Lorne Greene (star of the television series Bonanza and Battlestar Galactica)
• Dan Haggerty (star of the 1970s TV series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams)
• Tom T. Hall (country music singer/songwriter)
• U.S. President Warren G. Harding
• Shirley Jones (Academy Award winner, star of the 1970s TV series The Partridge Family)
• Jerry Mathers (star of the 1960s television series Leave It to Beaver)
• Jay North (star of the 1960s TV series Dennis the Menace)
• Minnie Pearl (country comedienne)
• Porky Pig
• Jon Provost (star of the TV series Lassie)
• Romper Room children’s TV series
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Shirley Temple
• Tom from the classic animated cartoon shorts Tom and Jerry
• Joan Van Ark (star of the 1980s television series Knot’s Landing)
• Robert Wagner
• John Wayne
• Betty White

Photo Credit: PRNewsFoto/American Humane Association