Two boys mistreated two chickens on Friday evening by throwing the animals in the Mierlose Hertenkamp. Administrator Theo Slaats (36) did not know what he saw when he looked at the surveillance images on Saturday. According to the animal caretaker, there has been nuisance from hanging youth around the mill in Mierlo for some time. Those are animals that are now the victim of it, makes him angry. “The animals will have a lot of stress of this in the coming days,” he fears.
On the surveillance images of Friday evening, young people can be seen behind a wall and sit at the Hertenkamp. Two boys jump over the high wall and disappear in the chicken coop.
The deer in that stay run away immediately when the boys come over the wall. Moments later you can see that the boys come out of the loft with the chickens in their hands. They throw the animals together. The boys run away from each other and then throw the chickens again.
“When you see that, your stomach will turn around,” says Theo. The animal caretaker was called on Friday evening by local residents who saw the animal abuse happening. He hurried to the deer camp and saw a group of young people there.
“He was lucky that I hadn’t seen the images at the time.”
“The group pointed to a boy. He said he had climbed the fence alone and had not done anything else. I grabbed him by the lurbs and sent it away on his bike,” says Theo. “He was lucky that I hadn’t seen the images at the time.”
The animal abuse was recorded on surveillance images of an adjacent mill, but the mill was open again on Saturday. “When I saw the images on Saturday, I was angry and disappointed. The boys just took the chickens off the stick to throw it.”
The chickens, goats, sheep, peacocks and turkeys in the deer camp are still upset one day after the incident, Theo notes. “I can feed them by hand, but if a stranger comes into the stay, they are immediately panicked. Fortunately, the chickens have nothing to do with it physically, but the animals will still have a lot of stress of this in the coming days,” he fears.
The animal lover cannot understand why someone does this. “Probably to do tough for the group, but how tough are you when you start throwing with defenseless animals,” he wonders.
In the meantime, Theo is in contact with the boys who threw the chicken. “They want to apologize. I want to accept that, under the conditions that they personally apologize with the parents. They must also know what their children are doing,” says the Hertenkamp manager.
“Windows scattered, destroyed and brought fire.”
For that reason Theo has not yet made a declaration, but has reported the incident to the local police officer. According to the manager, there has been a nuisance around the mill in Mierlo for some time. “That has been going on for years, but the windows have been thrown in at the library for the last two months, a fire has been set and destruction has been made. They are different groups of youngsters who cause nuisance.”
Theo does not know if the group of Friday evening is also behind the other destruction. “And if they apologize with their parents for throwing the chickens, I will also let it go. We have all had to learn our lesson.”
Yet he hopes that there will also be an end to the continuing nuisance. “I hear from local residents that the police are driving around regularly, but if things don’t happen red -handed, they can’t do much. There are conversations to place extra cameras.”
At the Hertenkamp he sees no extra options to protect his animals. “Everything is surrounded by fences and a high wall. There remains a fear that something like that happens, but I can’t do anymore. You also have to have a little faith in people,” he concludes.
