🙏🏼 | Animals, Advocacy & Action: 2025 HABRI Innovation Award Winners
Source: HABRI
On August 12, 2025 the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) announced the 2025 Human Animal Bond Innovation Award winners. The annual awards, held on the first night of the World Pet Association’s (WPA) SUPERZOO, were filled with energy and optimism. It was also a reminder of the powerful connection between people and pets.
“We want to shine a light on innovators who are tapping into the positive potential of the human-animal bond - it is exciting to see how the power of pets can transform lives and entire communities.” - Steve Feldman, President at HABRI
But this year felt different. The awards served as a canary in the coal mine. It’s TIME for brands outside the pet industry to take notice. Non-endemic players like Calm, Tito’s, and Disney+ are already showing how the human-animal bond can unlock deeper customer connections. When you lean in, and do it in a compelling way, you don’t just create engagement, you create results.
HABRI created these awards to spotlight bold ideas that make the world more pet-friendly. This year’s winners were recognized across four categories: Public Service, Media, Pet-Inclusive Culture, and Pet-Inclusive Infrastructure.
🏡 | Public Service (2 Winners!)
Neighborhood Pets Outreach & Resource Center → This group supports both pets and people with affordable vet care and human services. Their is not to work “in” the community, but be a “part” of the community. Since 2016, they have helped almost 9,000 families and worked with 20+ partners on food, health, and housing. Their work shows that when people thrive, pets thrive too. Click here, to learn about the Cleveland-based 501(c)3 non-profit.
Pawsperity → Pawsperity trains people facing poverty to become pet groomers. The program blends job skills with life support. Their vision is to break the cycle for those with less opportunity; giving them joy while learning a new craft… a career. It has a 96% job placement rate. Graduates grow their income from $10,000 to $47,000 on average. That means stronger families and better care for pets. Get more involved in this movement, click here.
📺 | Media
Disney+, Imagine Documentaries, and Bryce Dallas Howard → Together they created Pets, a warm and funny documentary about people and their animals. The film mixes viral moments, real stories, and interviews. Ultimately, It celebrates the joy and comfort pets bring to daily life. Interested? Click here to watch the trailer and/or the full documentary.
✈️ | Pet-Inclusive Culture
Visit Knoxville → Knoxville launched “Barxville,” a full tourism campaign led by Hank the Golden Retriever; via a woof woof’s POV! The city highlights pet-friendly hotels, restaurants, and events like Mardi Growl. With 72 dog-friendly hotels and 53 restaurants, Knoxville sets the standard for pet-inclusive travel. Enjoy the 9-minute documentary: Welcome to Barxville, a Knoxville Dogumenatary.
🧘🏻♂️ | Pet-Inclusive Infrastructure
Calm → Calm, best known for mental health content, partnered with Mars and The Waltham Petcare Science Institute, to show how pets support our well-being. They launched pet-inspired meditations, stories, and blogs. In 2025, they surveyed 30,000 pet owners across 20 countries. Generating over 1 Billion impressions, their work puts pets at the center of the mental health conversation. Learn more about the program: Mars and Calm Team Up.
Conclusion.
It’s exciting to see major brands outside the industry help shape the pet space. It shows just how far the human-animal bond can reach. Additionally, hat’s off to the award sponsors: Pet Smart Charities, Zoetis, Nestlé Purina, WPA and Tito’s.
Sitting in the room, I felt proud. Proud of HABRI for shining a light on this work. Proud of the winners for showing new ways to strengthen the human-animal bond.
If you’d like to get more involved with HABRI and other transformative brands in the Pet Industry, support Pet Week on Capital Hill next month (learn more).
The future of pets + people looks brighter than ever.
