“Landelijk Congres Dierenhulpverlening“
“Stichting Dierenlot” (Animal Fate Foundation) organised a congress last week for volunteers and professionals working in animal care. It promised interesting talks and a large information market with exhibitors from the animal welfare sector. I was keen to meet people here and find out what they do, so I signed up and went along!
Admission – on 2 counts
I enjoyed talking to people on the Dierenlot training courses during the coffee breaks and finding out what they did, but I find networking events difficult. It seems everybody already knows everyone else and conversations are closed-loop and difficult to get into.
So my first admission is instead of driving there with some of the other animal ambulance crew in the ambulances, I booked cheap train tickets so I could leave early and go home if I found it too much.
The decision got me soaked on the rainy bike ride to the train station, but also a healthy kilometer walk to the beautiful centre at the other end.
The second admission is my admission into the building!
Thankfully the organisation inside was fantastic! Loads and loads of us piled in through the doors and were directed into a wide area with 4 people scanning registration QR codes and handing out name badges and programs. This was a gloriously smooth process despite the vast amount of people there! And it happened that the lady who checked me in was the lady who told me about this congress at the Dierenlot training!
“Everyone already knows each other…”
“No. Only the cloakroom behind you…”
People, People Everywhere!
The day kicked off with an opening ‘ceremony’. A few words, an applause and an explanation of the day ahead; 2 session with a choice of 8 lectures each, lunch, then another 2 session with a choice of 8 lectures each followed by the closing ceremony.
For between sessions, during lunch, or if I didn’t fancy a talk, there was an “information market” – stalls of organisations exhibiting their services / activities. I spent 10 minutes looking for signs of my team. Finding a needle in a haystack would have been far easier. But no matter. I headed alone to the first talk.
Just a few points from each session.
Exotic Animals. Not pets but a hobby animal…
(Presented by Rob Dumont of Stichting Dierenhulpdienst Nederland)
- Some reptiles are considered pets because they give the impression they want to be approached, held, cuddled, etc. but this is often not the case. They are “hobby animals” and not pets.
- Some animals simply should not be kept as pets and should be returned to nature.
A lady came to sit next to me because there wasn’t enough room for her with her team mates on the row in front of me. And she was the lady who worked at the rescue centre where I adopted our cat! (“Everyone knows everyone…“). She asked how our cat was doing – and I was embarrassed to tell her about her broken leg and dislocated knee cap…
Then she asked me an easier question – which organisation was I here with? As a rescue centre worker she’d heard of animal ambulances – but she’d also heard of Avolare which for her is on the other side of the country. I felt some pride there!
Evicting Birds of Prey
(Presented by Hielko van Rijthoven of Wings of Change)
- Careful thought is taken when deciding which injuries to treat, for example, new injuries versus handicaps since birth.
- Bird specialists are experts on birds. Vets are experts on medicine. Bird specialists and vets work together towards a good solution for the bird.
- Feathers are really important for birds. Damaged feathers must be balanced. They can be reconstructed with a felt tip pens (seems like payback for using feathers as quills! 😉 ).
- Curvature of nails affects how flat the foot is on the ground.
- A bird’s mental condition is just as important as its physical condition. Physical (and visual) contact should be minimised (recall: nonchalant approach!) because this causes stress in birds, for example, when moving it from one cage to another during cleaning, or holding a bird.
- A bird makes associations very quickly, for example, the sound of approaching footsteps with being moved for cleaning. Subsequent footsteps bring stress from the anticipation.
- Careful thought is required for the location to release a bird.
- Make ventilation holes in cardboard boxes at the bottom with birds; they naturally look upwards to the air and try to fly towards it!
- Open a box and let the bird fly out of its own accord when releasing it into the wild. Holding it and throwing it up into the air is very Hollywood, but very stressful for the bird. There’s no point in stressing out a bird on his last day.
Hielko was a superb presenter!
“Close your eyes!” We closed them.
“Now open them!” And a picture of a clown showed on the screen.
We repeated the process, and when we reopened our eyes the second time, the clown was closer. And repeat. Now the clown’s face was close-up – and scary!
“Close your eyes!” And again we closed them. Even with my eyes closed I could feel the tension in the room. What would be there when we could see again?
Hielko had proved his point! We’d associated opening our eyes with a negative experience! (And he relieved the tension by showing us a happy picture afterwards!)
Lunch
There was no sign of my team mates after 15 minutes of scouting for them, so I grabbed a couple of bread rolls for lunch (this is Holland) and braced myself to talk to some strangers. Busy, confident, loud extroverts who know each other. People who sit together in clumps with backs turned towards the free spaces.
I needed to push myself. My usual trick in these situations is approaching other wall-flowers who probably feel the same way I do. I left the eating area and searched for a quietish spot with some quietish people. But it seemed my fellow wall-flowers had their noses buried in the event program, or their eyes glazed over a phone-screen. Approaching them would be an interruption.
There’s nothing as lonely as being in a crowded room.
I found a bench and sat there with my lunch, making a point to keep my phone in my pocket and look approachable in a non-weirdo kinda way. Evidently I didn’t get the look I was hoping for because no-one came over. Well, not phoneless ones anyway. 2 people did come over (separately) but I had the strong feeling that they didn’t want to be disturbed.
This free lunch was costing me a lot of energy! 😉
Another 30 minutes to go! How will I survive?
In the Information Market!
I’d checked the website beforehand so I knew who was going to be there. And I’d also looked each of them up so I knew roughly what those organisations did. In particular, I really wanted to speak to someone at House of Animals, an organisation “…fight[ing] for an animal-friendly world every day”. They have an animal crime unit who investigates animal cruelty and illegal animal trafficking and has experts in legal issues.
Until now, I’d thought of “animals in need” as animals who needed rescuing from predator attacks, or (hopefully accidental) encounters with humans (as Avolare notes with most of their wildlife rescues). I’d never thought of deliberate human cruelty against animals.
Even after 4 circuits I couldn’t find their stall; swarms of humans buzzing around certainly didn’t help. Actually, it was difficult to see the front of any stall. People were everywhere!
The more I walked around, the less inclined I felt to speak to anyone. They were already busy – what would they want with me? OK, charities wanted cash, businesses wanted to sell products, organisations wanted me to sign up for stuff…
On the positive side, lots of tables had (healthy) snacks, and hot and cold drinks. I grabbed a couple of refreshments and found another quiet spot.
I realised I’d shot myself in the foot. Not just because my return train ticket wasn’t valid for another 90 minutes, but because my reasoning was stupid; I didn’t want to travel with my team mates in case I had a miserable time and wanted to leave early. Except I was having a miserable time because I’m not with them 😩
Everyone already knows everyone.
So far my only conversations were with 2 people I already knew. The admission lady and cat lady. Ah yes – and someone dressed as Santa Clause who I asked for a playstation for Christmas (because “a dog is for life not just for Christmas (or walks outside during covid restrictions)”. He gave me a smile, a hand-shake and wished me a Merry Christmas!
Teaming with People
“Paul! What are you doing there?!”
A Godsend! One of my team members! And another, and another! It was nice to be with them, and I must admit I felt bad for not travelling with them. And I’d missed out on the group photo with them.
One of them was a driver I particular enjoyed working with, and we wandered around a few of the stalls together. It’s amazing how much easier that is with someone! (Although I still didn’t see the House of Animals! 😉 )
The driver wanted to get away for a smoke, so we arranged to meet up at the next session. There was still some time to kill so I wandered around some more, somehow, now, with a little bit more confidence.
Some stalls had a saucer of “peppernoten” – essentially the the closest thing you’ll ever get to dog biscuits for people – a traditional snack for “Sinterklas” – essentially the closest thing the Dutch will get to Santa Clause before telling you Sinterklas came first and Santa is an American construct. (It might be true – but I’m still hoping for that playstation…)
Never again BANG? – About fear from fireworks in dogs
(“Bang” in Dutch means “Afraid”! 😉 )
(Home) fireworks will be banned in the Netherlands next year, so there’s only 1 more new year’s eve’s worth of ear-splitting, eye-gouging, body-burning, litter-leaving pyro-idiocy to get through. (And igniting left-over stock.) A hot (haha) topic, and there was a lot of interest in the hall.
I got there before my team mate so I saved her a seat. When she came we talked about the idiocy of everyone letting off fireworks in the street (no minimum age limit in the Netherlands…). A lady nearby overheard us (agreed) then told us this talk had been moved to the morning so we’d missed it! Instead was a talk on hygiene.
Important, yes. But not something either of us were riveted about so we left and headed out to another.
HORSe: measuring the human-horse relationship
(Presented by Chantal Kapteijn, a PhD student in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University)
A horse releases oxytocine when it’s stroked, cuddled or kissed. This lowers the horse’s heartbeat, and since the heartbeat can be measured easily, the effect of stroking, cuddling and kissing a horse can be monitored.
This research looked at the response of horses when human petting was applied in different areas (e.g. the back of the neck, the flank, etc.). The general idea was that if a horse’s heartbeat slows, it’s relaxed and happy to be with his owner.
My science background thumped me in the back of my head for this talk; it was obviously dumbed down, but the results didn’t seem to be statistically significant. And as someone in the audience pointed out, there are many other factors that were not taken into account (for example, the horse’s sex, age, temperament, health and the time of day).
PCA (principle component analysis) was used to create ‘clusters’ of similar horses, but without more information, this seems like it could have been a perfect case for even basic data science to get even a basic handle on these factors.
But yeah. Dumbed down, so I’m sure there’s a lot more behind what was presented!
Happy Pets: Encouraging responsible choices to improve the welfare of companion animals
(Presented by Kathalijne Visser, lecturer at Aeres University of Applied Sciences)
An eye opener of a talk! Kathalijne described cases or situations where pet owners were not necessarily providing the best care for their pets. Of particular note, cats often became obese due to over-eating and/or lack of movement, and guinea pigs often didn’t receive enough attention from their human companions. (Perhaps I remember these 2 animals the most because I have them…).
We were invited to share some thoughts on what we thought were good ways to ensure pets are looked after well, for example, through sharing of knowledge or even legislation. At the end of the presentation we were given QR codes to animal-specific questionnaires to assist Kathalijne and her team in their research.
A side note on the presentation room. It was situated next to a large hall where loud music played. All that divided us was a curtain! To combat this, we wore headphones and the speaker (Kathalijn and Horse-lady) used a microphone so we heard her clearly. Since they didn’t wear the headphones, it must have been difficult for them because they spoke to a silent audience but against loud background music. Kudos!
Side note to the side note. For one of the presentations I sat next to a chap who sketched as he listened. It made me wonder. I know 2 artists at the animal ambulance, and an intern at Avolare. Is artistry a natural skill / hobby for animal lovers?
Closing Ceremony
So here’s the point where I could leave ‘early’ and catch the train home, or hang around for a cheesy closing ceremony with a cheesy jazz singer.
I stayed! It was nice to be with my team and take in the atmosphere, but it’s also fair to say I was utterly bewildered!
Every now and then an organisation was called up to the stage and presented with a huge cheque. And each attending organisation received 10,000 euros and each ambulance present received 500 euros for fuel costs!
I’ve no idea where all this money comes from, but it totalled something in the hundreds of thousands of euros – that’s a load of cash for animal welfare!
The Party’s Over
Over a thousand of us piled out of the building with a goody bag. Keyrings, pens, Christmas decorations, a ton of literature and a bar of choc thanking us for our visit. Again, brilliant organisation on the Dierenlot front with plenty of staff to make the process as painless as possible. I spotted only 1 idiot jumping the (fast moving) queue – she was easy to spot as she wore a bright yellow hi-vis jacket!
The ambulance crew asked me if I wanted to travel home with them, but my bike was at the train station so we parted ways and I walked the kilometer to the local train station.
It was only 17:30 when I stepped off the train at the home side, but it had been a long and exhausting day. I had my bagful of goodies, but I felt like a loser because I hadn’t spoken to a ‘stranger’ to find out what they did. But I saw a chance for reprieval!
Just ahead of me was a guy holding his congress goodybag. I caught up with him and asked what he thought of the congress. After a bit of misconfusion with my strong English accent (and an attempt of escape by running the wrong way down an ascending escalator(!) ) he understood I was asking him about the congress and if he worked nearby; I was curious if there are more animal welfare organisation in my area. It turned out he was a vet in Amsterdam.
I got to the bike shed and pedalled home with my bar of chocolate and yes! – a (weird) conversation with a stranger under my belt! 🙂
