It looks like the Purmerend dog shelter Dogrun can remain. The municipality previously planned a road straight through the forest where owner Bram Bonhof runs the dog shelter. In the latest plans, a piece of forest still has to disappear, but the shelter can continue to exist. Bram is extremely relieved: “Unbelievable, I have barely slept for a week. I woke up with it and went to bed with it.”
Bram’s customers were very concerned about a possible closure, because they did not know where else their dog could go. Some feared that this would force them to get rid of their pet. There was one petition set up that was signed more than 4,500 times.
In November there was even a real ‘dog demonstration’: the hall of the town hall was full of concerned dog owners, who supported Bram together with their barking dogs.
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Dog shelter owner in tears after massive expressions of support: “We can’t do without Bram” – NH
Bram had been concerned about the issue for years. The dogs can run around freely in the cordoned off area of the forest where he has his dog shelter. Because it is fairly remote, no one is really bothered by the barking. If he had to move to a new place that would be one of the biggest concerns.
New homes
The municipality of Purmerend wants to build many new homes on the East Flank: about 4,500 homes where the golf course is now located and about 1,300 homes in the Purmer-Zuid Zuid area. The new road is necessary to provide access to those homes.
Ultimately, there is now a plan in which the road will run between the dog shelter and the adjacent business park, exactly as Bram had previously indicated to the municipality. Bram hopes that the ditch that is now there can be filled in, so that as little forest as possible has to be cut down. “I don’t know at all whether that is allowed. There are a lot of things going through my head right now.”
Below, watch a video that the municipality of Purmerend published today about the plans on the East Flank. Text continues below.
Bram was updated today by municipal officials about the plan. Once he had clarity, it felt as if ‘twenty kilos’ had fallen off Bram’s back, he says. “Yes, because my back hurt this morning and I never have that.”
He continues: “I think it’s great that they listened. The municipality has to take so many things into account. I think it also makes a big difference that it got into the media and that so many people depend on my shelter.”
The initiator of the petition Silvia Reid told NH last October why she did not want the shelter to disappear.
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People of Purmerend try to stop dog shelters from closing – NH
The municipality’s new vision for the East Flank will be discussed in the municipal council in April, so there is not yet one hundred percent certainty for Bram. “But I don’t believe this will cause a problem. And otherwise I don’t know.”
Bram will go to bed a little calmer tonight and already knows what will happen on Monday: “Then the dogs will get an extra treat!”
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