Ten winners in the animal protection veterinarian, lawyer, zoo specialist, civil and public figure of the year categories received recognition on Wednesday in Budapest, at the Ministry of Justice.

In his speech before the award ceremony, Minister of Justice Bence Tuzson said that the government takes animal protection seriously, which is proven better than the fact that a special government commissioner for animal protection, Péter Ovádi, has been appointed, who is committed to this area.

In order to protect animals, many rules have been changed in the past period, the Criminal Code was amended in 2021, which also means a serious change of attitude in the field of criminal law. The minister emphasized that it is extremely important for the government to support organizations working in the field of animal protection. As an example, he mentioned that last year it was possible to support 187 organizations with HUF 500 million.

He explained that animal protection presupposes great social responsibility and social cooperation. As a step forward, he mentioned the Animal Protection Theme Week organized last year, during which children were encouraged to learn about animal protection through play. Last year, 132,000 children took part in the event, this year 220,000 children are expected for the theme week.

Legislation and support are both important, but without dedicated people, you cannot make progress in this area. Legislation is dry, so we have to make it all approachable. In addition to cooperation, attitude formation is necessary for this. He added that it will take at least ten to fifteen years for the work done in the field of animal protection to have a spectacular result.

Péter Ovádi, the government commissioner responsible for animal protection, spoke in his welcome speech that the whole society is open to raising the issue of animal protection to a higher level and that it is very important that dedicated people work in this field.

As examples, he mentioned veterinarians, lawyers, zoo specialists and those NGOs that have been keeping animal protection alive for thirty years, and he also praised the well-known people who assume responsibility and play a mediating role in the media.

Szilvia Wetter, the president of the Animal Protection Foundation of Our Common Cause, said that the foundation established in February this year created the animal protection professional award on the occasion of World Animal Day and with the intention of creating a tradition.

He emphasized that the focus of the foundation's activities is the development of long-term, sustainable animal protection, in which the protection of people, the creation of a stable environment for animals, and the economic aspect are equally important. The foundation wants to create the social, professional and scientific prestige of animal protection in Hungary, emphasized the president. As he said, in recognition of this, the awards are presented for decades of outstanding work in the field of animal protection.

The Animal Protection Veterinarian of the Year award went to Fodor Kinga , Associate Professor of the Department of Laboratory Animal Science and Animal Protection of the University of Veterinary Medicine, and Szabina Tóth

Animal protection lawyer of the year was awarded to university professor Anita Paulovics animal protection lawyer Csilla Nagy

The award for animal protection zoo specialist of the year was awarded to Endre Sós , head veterinarian of the Capital Zoo and Botanical Garden, and Éva Schütz , vice president of the National Association of Hungarian Private Gardens.

Roxána Müller, the leader of the Bársonytalp a Cicákért Zala Egyesület, founded in 2017, and Edina Némedi , a volunteer of the Animal Rescue Service Foundation, received recognition as the civil animal protector of the year

Andrea Benkő , reporter of Radio Kossuth, editor and presenter of public affairs and portrait programs, scientific magazine programs, board member of the Herman Ottó Országos Allat-és Pétyzészégy Egyesület, received the award for animal protection public figure of the year

In addition to the diploma, the awardees receive a Herend porcelain vase, and each awardee can donate 100 kilograms of food to a non-governmental animal protection organization courtesy of the Our Common Cause for Animal Protection Foundation.

MTI

Featured image: MTI/János Vajda