And so to World Animal Day, the international day of action for animal rights and welfare which has been celebrated every year on this day since 1925, with October 4 apparently being the feast day of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.
The World Animal Day movement is supported and endorsed by a number of celebrities, and not only those ones with “Turkey Teeth” or “Fox Eyes”.
We’re talking British wildlife presenter, actress, journalist, conservationist and wolf enthusiast Anneka Svenska; animal rights, a cruelty-free cosmetics lover and former “Sporty” Spice Melanie C, and The Panther In The Kitchen: My Wild Life With Animals author Brian Blessed no less.
Not that I am a complete animal nutter, you understand, but it has long been reported that stories about our furry friends are very attractive to online audiences.
In fact, it has even been claimed that cats drive about 15% of all online traffic. To put that into perspective, of about 4.66 billion people regularly using the Internet, 699 million are at some point searching for cats and/or cat-related content every month – just a few of them would boost our traffic considerably.
Not only that but research suggests looking at cute animals can improve job performance. In one study, people were more precise and made fewer mistakes on cognitive and dexterity tasks after viewing pictures of puppies and kittens. Research also shows that when we see something cute, our brains release a surge of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward.
Sadly, no sooner had I started to feel a lot better about myself than up popped an email from the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) inviting me to attend a new seminar entitled “Direct marketing and butchery (part 1)”.
And I quote: “Across two events, we will explore the various stages of direct marketing beef to customers. We will start with a theory session before viewing and handling some of host James Newhouse’s belted galloway cattle, which are destined for marketing via beef boxes.
“Industry-renowned Steve Powdrill will lead this event, focusing on assessing when animals are ready for slaughter, including factors that can influence carcase quality.
“After this first session, the cattle will be processed at a local abattoir and carcases matured before forming part of the second session, which will be held on Thursday November 7. This second session will include butchery, charcuterie, nutritional and legislative sessions. We strongly encourage you to attend both sessions.”
Obviously my reputation for turning up for the opening of an envelope has spread far and wide. And, while I must say thanks for the invite, I will have to decline this time.
Sadly for the AHDB and the slaughterhouse community, I will be far too busy over the next few weeks scouring the Internet for pictures of cute pussies…
Follow Foxy on X and Instagram if you must, but don’t get too excited as I’m never there
