Everywhere in the world, we can observe and be touched by acts of kindness. People from all walks of life, faiths, and cultures extend themselves beyond the call of duty to help others unconditionally. Through their noble deeds, humanity as a whole is elevated.

To commend virtuous actions and encourage more people to be inspired by their examples, Supreme Master Ching Hai has lovingly created a series of awards, including the Shining World Leadership Award, Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Inventor Award, to recognize some of the most exemplary, generous, caring, and courageous people who walk amongst us.

Welcome, joyful viewers, to today’s edition of the Shining World Compassion Award series celebrating the remarkable work of the Animal Welfare League of Queensland, located in sunny Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Since 1959 the League has been rescuing abandoned and stray cats and dogs and providing them with shelter and care until they find suitable homes. Another reason the League is a tremendous asset to the community is that it offers spaying and neutering services that help to prevent the birth of kittens and puppies who would end up homeless. The organization has many dedicated staff members, volunteers and community supporters.

One of the founders of the organizations back in 1959, Neil Anderson, is actually still on the committee, still coming to board meetings and shows an absolute commitment to the progress of the organization. And in addition to that, his daughter is the president now and has been giving her time, seven days a week, to the organization full-time, does not take a salary, just is totally committed to making this work. And that’s how you end up with an organization, that gradually pulls in people that all love animals and believe in the fact that they deserve a life and they deserve to be cared for. So we end up with lots of volunteers and lots of staff.

We have lots of volunteers who have done amazing things. For example, few years ago, Judy Clark, one of our volunteers, decided that the long-term animals, that means the dogs that maybe are waiting longer than two months for a home, sometimes it takes a while till they find their perfect match, she decided that they should get to go out of the shelter environment and have some fun, and so she initiated a beach walking program and that has continued for the last seven or so years, where a group of volunteers come three days a week, they put the animals in the van, in a trailer.

They take them down to the beach; they meet a group of volunteers. They all walk on the beach, they play in the water, and they have fun. Then they bring them back and they do a second trip and a third trip, and they repeat that every week for three days a week and the dogs get used to it. They get to know that they’re going to get a beach trip, to the extent that on a normal day when it’s not a beach walking day, the dogs tend to run past the trailer and jump in because they think it’s time to go to the beach.

Sue is one of the people who takes animals to the beach on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Oh, great!

I can imagine they’d love it.

They love it. They go swimming, they go running and playing with each other.

That’s wonderful! And do you notice a distinct lift in their spirits?

Yes! They’re very, very happy to be down there.

As they wait to be adopted by loving caregivers, the Animal Welfare League of Queensland tries its best to prepare each of the lovely, sweet-natured animals for life in their future forever home.

That’s the whole point. So that they’re then ready when they go into a home, they’re used to the outside world, they’re not getting timid and scared, and they’re meeting lots of people, which is so important for all animals. And the same with the cats, we’re introducing programs constantly, not only just for petting cats when they’re waiting for their new homes, but also some enrichment and rehabilitation programs, so that cats are not left feeling bored and isolated in their cages.

We have a large re-homing area where animals get to walk around. We put about 15 cats in the one area or 30 kittens at a time so they can jump up on high perches on walls or they can climb along surfaces up high. They can go into an outdoor enclosure where they can get access to the sun in winter and get some fresh air, and basically choose what they want to do in their own space. It might mean some of them want to hide for awhile, for example.

And then we need people to go in and help encourage them to come out and get used to people, because some cats are quite solitary creatures and quite nervous around people. So, there’s a lot of work to be done to encourage them to feel comfortable with people and enjoy their surroundings while they’re waiting to get their perfect home as well.

When we come back, we’ll learn about the adoption process at the Animal Welfare League of Queensland. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to the Shining World Compassion Award series on Supreme Master Television. Since 1959 the Animal Welfare League of Queensland has been rescuing stray and abandoned cats and dogs and helping to prevent the birth of kittens and puppies that would become homeless through a spaying and neutering program.

For those members of the community needing financial assistance to provide medical care to their animal companions, the League runs a community veterinary clinic where services are available at reduced rates. For stray animals needing medical attention, the League operates a shelter veterinary clinic. Now, let’s visit the re-homing pens and learn about the organization’s adoption process.

This is one of the kitten re-homing pens and as you can see, they settle in pretty fast and they have lots of fun. And they have lots of toys and different things to play with, and when people come to adopt a kitten they do an interview and then they come down here and they can come into the pens and sit down on the floor with the kittens and play with them and work out which little kitten they want to fall in love with.

And that means people get a good opportunity to get to know the animal before they adopt and they enjoy coming here.

And we also have some people here having a look at the dogs; this is where they come to assess whether they would like to adopt one of them. If they have a dog of their own, they’re required to attend a meet and greet, which means they have to bring their own animal in, so that they can meet to see if they’re going to be happy together.

For its many years of compassionate commitment to animals, Supreme Master Ching Hai recently honored the Animal Welfare League of Queensland with the Shining World Compassion Award. The following is an excerpt from a warm letter the organization received from Supreme Master Ching Hai:

It is with great pleasure and gratitude that we present to the Animal Welfare League of Queensland the “Shining World Compassion Award.” This Award is presented in recognition of the League’s outstanding efforts to extend warm-hearted care and concern towards our animal friends in need. Since 1959, your organization has opened its hearts to countless helpless creatures, dependant on us for their well being, and currently cares for over 12,000 animals each year from the Gold Coast and surrounding areas.

For decades of abundant love and heartfelt care and affection, for your empathetic and gracious commitment to the care of precious lives, and for endless, untiring devotion, we hereby applaud and celebrate the nurturing deeds of the Animal Welfare League of Queensland, Incorporated. With grateful thanks to the dedicated staff, volunteers and supporters, With Great Honour, Love and Blessings, Supreme Master Ching Hai.

The League was presented with a selection of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s books, CDs and DVDs as well as a beautiful crystal Award plaque, which reads as follows:

In Recognition Of Decades Of Unconditional Love And Selfless Service, Nurturing And Re-homing Our Canine And Feline Friends In Need, With Kindness, Dedication And Heavenly Care And Protection, With Compliments And Gratitude For Your Immense Generosity Of Spirit And Enlightened Service To the Community.

To support the Animal Welfare League of Queensland’s noble mission, Supreme Master Ching Hai also made a contribution of AUD$10,000.

Thank you, oh, thank you so much! This has just come at a good time. We had a huge fire, it’s a couple of weeks ago, so we lost for the animals, all the bedding and food, and everything we had was stored down there. So, it’ll really help out a lot as well. We’ll put this towards our foster program that we have at the moment.

It’s quite a large program with about just over 300 animals out on foster care at the moment, little ones that are needing a home, just until they get back on their feet, a little bit more TLC so they can go through and get their permanent home, so this will definitely be put to good use, so it will be saving a lot of lives, actually. So, that’s wonderful, and our heartfelt thanks to Supreme Master Ching Hai for her generosity and compassion to our work and helping us save all these wonderful lives. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Denise, thank you.

Considering the League’s amazing achievements over the past 50 plus years, we asked the organization’s co-founder Mr. Neil Anderson how he feels about its progress.

It’s just wonderful, it’s really wonderful and I have to say my thanks goes out to all those people, staff, and wonderful volunteers.

We congratulate the Animal Welfare League of Queensland for its well-deserved recognition. May the League’s work continue to spread compassion for animals in the Gold Coast region and beyond.

For more details on the Animal Welfare League of Queensland, please visit

Thank you for joining us on this edition of the Shining World Compassion Award series. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News. May the light of Heaven guide you to inner peace.

The sobering documentary “Earthlings,” directed by vegan filmmaker Shaun Monson and narrated by esteemed US actor Joaquin Phoenix demonstrates how we have severely mistreated our animal friends in the name of so-called “scientific research.”

20 years ago, the number of animals dying of tortures through the practice of vivisection was astronomical, estimated at 400,000 per day worldwide, and growing at an annual rate of 5%. Today that number is almost beyond comprehension. 19,000 per minute. 10 billion per year.

Join us for the conclusion of “Earthlings” Tuesday, May 4 on Stop Animal Cruelty.