Brussels animal shelter looking for people to adopt sheep

An animal shelter in the Brussels neighbourhood of Anderlecht has 27 sheep that it hopes can be adopted as companion animals.

“A large number were generally victims of neglect or abuse, and some were specifically rescued from illegal home slaughterings in the context of Eid al-Adha,” said Ludivine Nolf, communications officer at the Veeweyde shelter.

“During inspections, for example, the police found several animals crammed into a car boot or in a basement. They’re often extremely thin, sick, their wool is full of knots, they are infested with parasites. It takes at least two months for them to recover.”

Strict conditions make it difficult to adopt sheep within Brussels, Bruzz reports, so the shelter has sheep that have been there for more than 10 years.

The sheep are currently residing in various pastures that were specially redesigned for the animals in 2021, when the shelter invested in two new barns.

The oldest sheep in the shelter have been there since 2015 and are now 12 years old. Only three or four sheep a year leave the shelter for a new home.

The conditions for adoption include that a sheep must be housed on a pasture of at least ten acres, or 1,000m², per animal. Because sheep are social animals, they must be placed with an existing animal or flock, or at least adopted in pairs.

Interested parties must provide suitable shelters, fences, permanent drinking water, proper nutrition, care and shearing.

Adoptions in urban areas prove to be particularly complex due to the lack of large pastures, so sheep normally only find new owners in the Flemish or Walloon suburbs around Brussels, with one recent exception.

“At the end of last year, the municipality of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe adopted two of our sheep, Benny and Timmy, for the Pie Konijn farm project,” said Nolf.

The sheep live there in the company of five rabbits and eight chickens, all of which also came from the Anderlecht shelter.

“It's a wonderful awareness-raising project for which one of the oldest farms in Brussels has been renovated,” Nolf said.

Nolf noted that there are a number of misconceptions about sheep, including that they are perceived as unintelligent.

“Research shows that sheep are much more sensitive than is often thought,” said Nolf.

“They have an emotional life, and can react optimistically and pessimistically. And they have a good memory. For example, they easily recognise their carers.”

The Veeweyde shelter is calling on people with sufficient space and experience to adopt a companion sheep.

Adoptions are not permitted for an agricultural or production context, the shelter said, because “these animals have had a difficult past and deserve peace and stability”.