Visitors interact with elephants at the Bangladesh National Zoo in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Oct. 4, 2022. (Xinhua)

The World Animal Day is an annual event celebrating animal rights and welfare across the globe, which falls on Oct. 4. It's an important day and has been marked since 1925, with a growing international community striving to end the needless suffering of all animals.

Many people around the world celebrate the World Animal Day in different ways. The theme for World Animal Day 2022 is "A Shared Planet". All the animals in the ecosystem co-exist to balance nature's ecology. It is imperative to note that animals play an equally important role in protecting our environment and in promoting human health as well.

A tigress is pictured with her cub in an enclosure at Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden in Guwahati, India's northeastern state of Assam, Oct. 4, 2022. (Str/Xinhua)

 

A zookeeper feeds giraffes at the Bangladesh National Zoo in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Oct. 4, 2022. (Xinhua)

 

A night heron flies to catch fish in Bulacan Province, the Philippines, Oct. 4, 2022. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)