Begging round
Every year they catch almost 6,000 birds and wild animals in Ostend. More than 80 volunteers help. But the VOC only receives Flemish subsidies for three half-time employees. The shelter is therefore urgently requesting help from municipalities in the region. Bruges, Ostend and Knokke-Heist already donate to the coastal bird sanctuary. “We have been working on this asking and begging round for a while now. We have historical support from Ostend. That budget is now being indexed and now we hope that the other municipalities will jump on the bandwagon so that we can continue to offer that service.”
Bird flu
Some coastal municipalities gave the shelter an association subsidy of 125 euros per year. But that is no longer enough. Certainly not during this period with bird flu. Employees collect dead birds all along the coast to contain the disease. They do receive compensation for this from the Flemish government, but there are virtually no resources left for regular operations.