Until now.

Tuesday, July 3 will mark the first ever World Meerkat Day, and Dubbo’s Karen James is its creator.

The meerkat keeper at Taronga Western Plains Zoo was stunned there wasn’t already a day for the popular little mammal, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

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“I love meerkats just because they’re a really engaging species … when you work with them they really engage with you,” Ms James said.

“Every other animal has days and I was like ‘I wonder when World Meerkat Day is?’ I looked and I looked and I couldn’t find it, so I thought ‘bugger it! I’ll make it!’

“The ultimate reason I picked the third of the seventh is because if you spell meerkat with numbers you get me37kat. I initially wanted the third of the third (m33rkat) but that [was taken].”

Dubbo’s zoo will be leading the charge on Tuesday, with a colouring competition for the kids and extended meerkat keeper talks.

About eight zoos around the world are on board to take part, including in the United States and New Zealand.

But launching a global day is no small feat.

Ms James broached the topic with some of her meerkat keeper contacts around the world, and found “everyone was keen to be involved”.

She then contacted conservation branding agency Peppermint Narwhal Creative to find a free day, and World Meerkat Day was born.

Ms James is urging people to take part in the day part by posting their own #sentryselfie to social media.

She hopes to see people across the globe getting involved, but said she’s not setting her expectations too high for the first year.

“Everyone loves meerkats but a lot of people don’t actually know a lot about them, and how intricate their lives are, so it’s a bit about engaging and informing the public,” Ms James said.

“I want people to upload their #sentryselfies and it would be great to see Dubbo leading the charge.”

Ms James has been working with the species for about seven years, and loved them almost immediately.

“I started working with meerkats accidentally actually, and within two days of working with the species and hitting the surface of out intricate their families are,” she said.

“A lot of other animals tend to be more blase, but when I’m in the exhibit they don’t do sentry duty, because all of a sudden I’m on duty.

“When they had the new pups, they just came and just dropped them in front of me.

“There was so much to learn and it just made me want to learn more, and literally dedicate most of my career so far to that species.”