Animal rescue centre launches crowdfunding campaign

The Brussels region’s only rescue centre for birds and wild animals has launched a crowdfunding campaign to be able to purchase new equipment. “Our costs are 10 times higher than our subsidies,” a spokesperson told La Capitale.

The Royal Belgian League for the Protection of Birds in Anderlecht originally launched to care for our feathered friends – from swallows to owls – but also provides expert medical care to all non-domesticated critters that roam Brussels street. Hedgehogs, foxes, weasels – even deer – have come through their door.

The centre nurses the injured animals back to health, then returns them to the wild. But while the number of animals per year continues to increase, government subsidies do not.

Adopt a rat

“We see more animals every year,” chair Jean-Francois Buslain told La Capitale. “In 2015, we took in 1,800. Last year that had risen to 2,500.”

The number have risen so drastically, he said, because of both a co-operation with Brussels fire services – which people often call on to help with an injured bird or mammal – and more awareness of the service among the public.

An adoption service – offering rats, mice and rabbits – brings in a little revenue, as does the Green shop. It sells all manner of bird houses and feeders, as well as more quirky items. (Bat cottage, anyone? How about a toad shelter?)

But the centre needs to buy a new anaesthetic machine and simply can’t afford the €2,300 needed. Anyone looking to help can visit the crowdfunding website.

Photo courtesy League for the Protection of Birds