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WPA award for Hagen’s late chairman The World Pet Association (WPA) has given an award to Hagen’s late chairman, Rolf C. Hagen, the Matsui Award at the pet trade industry SuperZoo 2013 in Las Vegas. Deemed the organisation’s highest honour, the Matsui Award is named after former WPA board president Jiro Matsui, and is presented to honour lifetime contributions to the pet industry. The WPA described Rolf C. Hagen as “one of those select few who gave so much back to the industry he loved”. Hagen’s late chairman is currently the only person in the industry to be honoured with three major Lifetime Achievement Awards: the American Pet Products Association Hall of Fame Award in 1999 (this award was also renamed the Rolf C. Hagen Award in 2012); the Pet Industry Distributors Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2004) and the Jiro Matsui Award of the World Pet Associations (2013). The Matsui Award has been presented 31 times since its inception in 1969, with 2012’s winner being Paul Jolly, vice president of Petco Animal Supplies, executive director of the Petco Foundation and co-founder of PAWS LA. More visitors to Las Vegas The SuperZoo in Las Vegas continues to be a major draw. The 2013 issue of the pet trade show attracted 9 per cent more attendees than 2012. 982 exhibitors showcased their products in Las Vegas on a floor space covering an astounding 191 524 square feet (about 17 200 m2). Next year, the WPA looks forward to even better results as SuperZoo returns to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, also in Las Vegas, on 22-24 July. First staging of Zooevent in September 4 700 trade visitors came to the German Garten- & Zooevent trade show in Kassel on 28 and 29 September, according to the organisers, Egesa-Zookauf and Sagaflor. The two trade cooperatives say that the attendance on both days was significantly higher than at last year’s show. This was attributable primarily to speciality stores not tied into the cooperative system. A third of the visitors did not belong to either cooperative, according to the organisers. The cooperatives believe that the change in show dates was one reason for the exhibition space selling out and for the growth in visitor numbers. This was the first time that the fair had been staged in September. It was noticeable that prominent companies like Mars Petcare, Tetra Europe, Hill’s and P&G were absent. A survey conducted by the German pet portal PETonline showed that over 62 per cent of exhibitors were disappointed by…