2023-10-12 19:24:00
Wednesday followingnoon, it was 12:15 p.m. in Morlanwelz when Franck Lorigiola, caregiver and president of the non-profit organization Au Bonheur de ViCa, received a phone call from the Animal Welfare Unit (UBEA) of the Walloon region, in full intervention with the local Haute-Meuse police in a house in Dinant. With two keepers from this refuge taking care of exotic birds, doves and parrots – not to be confused, therefore, with a Creaves, dedicated to wildlife –, Franck sets off. They are far from imagining hell, the mass grave that they will discover and into which they will have to rush to save what can be saved.
“The Devil’s House” and nightmare material
“Once in the house, despite our diving suits, with masks, glasses and gloves, very strict security measures, we were taken by the pestilential smell, of death, which pierced our suits and which reigned in this house, although it was occupied by a family. One of the people told us they suffered from asthma, it was not surprising. “
Franck, his team of rescuers and the police officers explored the floors, pushing their limits. “On the first floor, there were cages everywhere, birds left without care, and already corpses. On the second floor, the room was filled with cages once more. We had to move across a 20 cm thick carpet of droppings, feathers, seeds and bones. We discovered corpses in the skeletal state, mummified.” There was still the attic. “The hardest stage, an ossuary. Always with this same 25 cm carpet covering the entire floor. The cobwebs in the many cages containing mummified birds testified to the time spent without human intervention.”
In this horror, clearly the consequence of a breeder overwhelmed by events, the operation will last two and a half hours. “We had already made large seizures in Virelles and Fernelmont, but here it was beyond belief. With a record number of corpses. We took out 202 bodies – and we were only able to remove what we saw, there may still be many more in the thick carpet, which we have not turned over. We were walking, it felt “scrotch” under our feet and cockroaches were climbing up our legs. Our caregivers and police officers came out of there shocked! All our speakers had nightmares last night. They talk regarding the house of the devil.”
By the time we returned to Morlanwelz, at the accommodation center, two birds had died. Fifty-three have so far survived. “We found canaries, budgerigars, Fischer’s lovebirds, mandarins. We mightn’t do anything regarding the cockatiels. There were also skeletons that we identified as columbids, from the pigeon family.”
Driven to cannibalism?
As for the rescued little birds, they are alive but in a bad state. “They no longer had water and were in a state of advanced emaciation. Some had wounds that they had undoubtedly inflicted while trying to escape through the bars. We even wonder if some did not survive by eating their fellows. We had to organize a psychological debrief, some of our speakers burst into tears on Wednesday evening.” Terrible.
“Alert us!”
In Morlanwelz, in the Au Bonheur de ViCa facilities, the remains of the birds were placed on mortuary tarpaulins to be counted.
The survivors rushed to the water troughs before being repackaged in clean cages. It lasted until 12:30 a.m. On Thursday, the team was able to begin deworming before deworming the miraculous animals.
After which, they will spend 30 days in quarantine. “The following ? If they recover, which we sincerely hope, these little birds – as we call them – will be able to find a new home. We are already looking for adopters. They can contact us on 0494 66 40 80 and at [email protected]. “
If the judicial investigation will continue its course concerning this “voluntary abandonment” in Dinant, Franck Lorigiola would like to raise awareness: “It is essential that the permit and the ban on detention are more closely monitored and better supervised. In Dinant, the situation had been getting worse for months and months. It is important, when we are aware of problems, at home or with others, not to let things go, to immediately alert the authorities or our shelter. Anonymity is guaranteed and it can save animal lives.”
1697146045
#corpses #exotic #birds #survivors #unrecognizable #house #Dinant #carpet #droppings #bones #seeds