2023-10-16 04:47:00
The DH learns that for reasons linked to its limited resources, the Brussels Wildlife Care Center, managed in Anderlecht by the Royal Belgian League for the Protection of Birds (LRBPO), will no longer welcome injured domestic animals ( like parakeets, canaries, etc.) that he had until then agreed to care for. The center will no longer accept NAC (new pets) such as turtles, snakes, lizards, nor city pigeons (scientifically called domestic rock pigeons) injured, weakened, sick, which were entrusted to it until now .
Each year, the revalidation center welcomed more than 800 injured pigeons each year. Finally, our parks and ponds are home to a considerable number of geese and ducks of domestic breeds. From November 15, geese and ducks picked up in poor condition will no longer be taken care of at 43 rue de Veeweyde: with heartbreak, the team will refuse them. The Brussels Wildlife Care Center stops caring for domestic animals and only focuses on wild animals in distress, such as foxes, hedgehogs or even slowworms and grass snakes that we still found in the Brussels region, as are any other reptiles living in the wild in Belgium. City pigeons that are not considered wild animals will no longer be taken care of from next month, unlike wood pigeons which will continue to be accepted on rue de Veeweyde.
No cheerfulness of heart
The Brussels Wildlife Care Center, absolutely unique in the Brussels region, is facing a growing number of admissions which is reaching its capacity threshold. Last year, it received 3,461 injured birds and sometimes recorded up to 50 entries in a single day. The decision to stop caring for domestic animals and exotic species was not taken lightly, explain Jean-Claude Beaumont and Jean-François Buslain, respectively president and director of the center. Concretely, there are hundreds and hundreds of injured birds and small pets that are picked up daily in the city which will no longer be received for treatment.
The center managed by the Royal Belgian League is quite simply at the end of its human, material and financial resources. The number of indoor and outdoor aviaries is limited. Located in the middle of the city, wedged between other buildings, it no longer has the possibility of extension into the existing facilities while work has still been carried out to improve reception capacity, care and increase the rate of success. The construction of a new care center is planned but its completion may take time, communicates the LRBPO.
There is total uncertainty as to the fate that will be reserved for injured birds and small domestic and exotic animals (NAC) that the only existing rehabilitation center in the Brussels region will refuse to take care of from next month. Who will take care of it?
There are not many close alternatives. Sick or injured pigeons might, for example, be dropped off at the non-profit organization Au Bonheur de Vica, which specializes in welcoming ‘city pigeons’, located in Morlanwelz.
Veeweyde reacted
Senator (MR) and president of the SPA Veeweyde does not hide his concern. Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven speaks of a hard blow, mentions “a loss of value for the well-being of these animals” and denounces “a serious problem of which the public authorities should urgently become aware”.
“Ultimately, specifies Van Goidsenhoven, Veeweyde will once once more be able to welcome anatidae (geese, ducks) as well as farmyard animals but in the meantime, we will have to make do and rely on shelters in other regions. For NACs, reptiles, turtles and other exotic animals, it would be urgent to work on specific equipment but this will require investments. But money does not flow from the walls, at a time when renovations and bringing existing shelters up to standard already cost so much “
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