What An Honour!

👑 Tony Martin, CBE

As we recover from an amazing Jubilee weekend we have some very exciting news to share with you all. Our founder, Tony has been made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his charitable services in the most recent Queen’s Honours List.

Standing for Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the CBE is the highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award (excluding a knighthood/damehood), followed by OBE and then MBE.

The CBE is awarded to individuals for distinguished and innovative contributions in any given field and we are over the moon that Tony’s dedication to and support for our planet's animal population has been recognised at the highest level.

Tony will be the first to tell you that it is not about personal accolades and accomplishments, despite his ever-amassing list of achievements, but instead, it is about the moral duty of standing up for animals in need across the globe who cannot speak up for themselves.

Ironically, for a man who usually stays out of the limelight, Tony now joins an exclusive group that counts Stephen Hawking, Jonny Wilkinson and Helen Bonham-Carter as members. 

This is thoroughly deserved, however, and Tony deserves enormous credit for the incredible generosity he has displayed, and the contribution he has made to animal welfare. He has experienced the heights of success in business, but it is his work protecting some of our most vulnerable animals that is most admirable - all carried out behind the scenes, with no clamour for praise or attention.

This echoes the words of Mahatma Gandhi whose quote lives proudly on The Anthony V Martin Foundation’s website:

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

In a recent interview, Tony was asked about the lack of government funding and legislation to protect our animal population and his summary was incredibly succinct and powerful. He said that “the major issue is that animals don’t vote. They don’t appoint governments and governments are always focused on trying to please the population that put them in their current position”. In addition “animal welfare seems to be a secondary concern in many countries around the world and a bigger priority needs to be given to these charitable and volunteer sectors, which seem to be the only ones concentrated on solving this issue”.

We wholeheartedly agree with Tony’s words and are so grateful that he is one of the amazing humans who are concentrated on solving THIS issue, and via his donations, continues to enable countless other charitable organisations to improve the lives of animals across the globe.

Congratulations again, Tony.

…and let’s keep up the good work!