A neighbor who hits his dog, an acquaintance who has stopped feeding his cats, an owner who refuses to take care of his donkey… It can happen that an animal is well fed but never sees the light of day or never receives a caress, without receiving blows.
Abuse can take many forms.
How to react to a case of animal abuse?
As a priority, notify the FPS Animal Welfare and/or the police in your area of the facts you witness.
Please note: as a shelter, we have no verbal authority. We cannot issue fines and we also do not have the right to seize an animal without the authorization of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the FPS Animal Welfare or even Afsca, the Federal Agency for Animal Safety. Food chain.
The law of August 14, 1986
The Belgian law on animal protection (see attached), adopted on August 14, 1986, has already undergone several modifications.
What you can do if there is animal abuse or neglect:
- Contact the animal welfare department in your region
For the Brussels Region: https://environnement.brussels/thematiques/bien-etre-animal/porter-plainte-en-cas-de-negligence-ou-de-maltraitance-animale
Tel: 02/775.75.75
For the Walloon Region: http://bienetreanimal.wallonie.be/home/contact.html
Free call: 1718
For the Flemish Region: https://www.lne.be/meldpunt-verwaarloosde-of-mishandelde-dieren - Contact the police
Inform the police of the events you witnessed and file a complaint. Contact the police in your municipality. Call the 112 service which, via the intervention of the firefighters, will take the urgent measures necessary to protect the population and the environment.
- Get together
Talk about the case of abuse around you, invite people to join your cause and file several complaints at the same time. To attract the attention of the competent authorities, you can also file a civil suit against the person you accuse of animal abuse. Set up a neighborhood committee and distribute petitions. Alert the media and your municipality.
