Being able to feed the animals is the charm of the Park Farm at Haageind in Deurne. But the organization is increasingly encountering unwanted situations, where entire bags of bread are tipped over or heavily moldy bread is left with the animals. “This makes them sick.”
Most people in Deurne understand what is and is not the intention when it comes to feeding the animals. “We have many visitors who enjoy giving the animals a slice of leftover bread, with or without children or grandchildren,” says chairman Peter Kooter at the Deurne Media group (DMG). “That is also the function of the park: to bring children and animals closer together and enjoy together.”
In September, however, the Park Farm was suddenly confronted with enormous quantities of bread that were dumped on the animals. This happened in such an extreme form that the deer, alpacas, goats and sheep gave up their food. The organization already announced at the time that this was not the intention.
“That can make the animals very sick.”
“In large quantities, this luxury food is dangerous for the health of our animals. Bread contains a lot of salt and it causes the animals to become fat,” Kooter explains.
Now it appears that someone is making it even worse. They seem to see the Park Farm as a waste site. Last week he threw heavily moldy bread into a run there. “That can make the animals very sick,” sighs Kooter. He calls on visitors to pay attention to who leaves moldy food remains with the animals: “So that we can address them personally.”