All too often animals are used at events in Tilburg without applying for the necessary permits. That is what the local department of the Party for the Animals thinks. It therefore opens a hotline where residents can indicate that an event uses animals. After a report on this click line, the party then checks whether everything goes according to the rules.
“In Tilburg, strict rules apply to the use of animals at events,” says city councilor Pam Wijnans. A permit must always be applied for for this. “That is in principle good, but in practice those rules are not always complied with.”
Tilburgers can make a report on the website of the Party for the Animal Department when they see that there are animals present at an event. The group checks that notification and, if necessary, takes a look at the event in question. This hopes to find out how big the problem is.
“The municipality is too passive with the control and enforcement of its own rules,” says Wijnans. Her group would prefer to see that animals are no longer used for entertainment. “But at least we want to ensure that the permits and animal welfare are in order.”
Animal fair
Recently, after questions from the Party for the Animals, a bird show during a Halloween party and a bird fair in a community center had no permits. While that should have been.
Dierenpark De Oliemeulen also suddenly stopped last year with the annual reptile fair after the Wijnans group pointed out the college that no permit had been applied for for this either. According to the Party for the Animals, animal welfare and the educational function of the animal park do not rhyme with a fair where ‘animals are in small containers’.
Wijnans and her colleagues make the balance at the end of the summer. Any follow -up steps will then be discussed. In the meantime, Wijnans hopes that party members in other municipalities will take over the initiative. “Because there is still nowhere policy that completely prohibits the use of animals at events,” she says.