“It’s just fantastic, we’re really happy.” Dré and Conny Scheeres can’t believe their luck at the reopening of the renovated hedgehog enclosure in Roosendaal. Last year, the building of the hedgehog shelter was badly damaged by a collision with a delivery van. The residence has now been completely restored and the capacity has even been expanded.
“We now have room for about sixty hedgehogs, twenty more than before”, says Dré proudly. 23 years ago he started the hedgehog shelter together with Conny. Injured and malnourished animals have since been assured of the loving care of the couple and the volunteers.
Last year, no fewer than six hundred hedgehogs were brought. Most of the animals come from Brabant and Zeeland. The growing number of hedgehogs from Belgium is also striking. Dré: “We are also becoming better known across the border. They have no shelter in Flanders, so we increasingly receive animals from the surroundings of Antwerp, Kalmthout and Essen.”
The hedgehog shelter was supposed to be expanded last year. The renovation had to be postponed because a delivery van had broken the rear wall of the hedgehog enclosure. To make matters worse, the collision happened exactly in the busy season of the hedgehog shelter.
Dré and Conny Scheeres are happy that this difficult period is behind them. They are now looking forward to the construction of a new treatment room next to the residence. “We hope it will be finished in June. We are still waiting for the contractor,” explains Dré.
In the meantime, he is calling on new volunteers to sign up. “We have a chronic shortage of people. We now have about twelve volunteers and that should be twice as many. We can use everyone well. Especially towards the summer when the weather gets busy.”