Stichting Dierenlot organises a national congress twice a year for animal rescuers to network and listen to presentations. I valued my visit to the last one in November 2025 so I was keen to attend this one too!
November 2025
5 months ago I had difficulties. My energy levels were low, concentration for extended times was difficult, and certainly crowds and busy places were a challenge. But my mental health was definitely on way the up and aside from the informative talks during the November 2025 congress, I learned some things about myself too. The 2026 congress experience was going to be a chance for me to see how far I’ve come…
April 2026
I plotted out in advance which talks I wanted to attend (with backups, because last time things got shuffled around / cancelled) and took a good look at the organisations with stalls to acquaint myself with what they do before I start talking to them.
Familiar Places and Faces
The familiar tall tower greeted us as we drove up. It welcomed us to “The circus”…
But first up I should mention I travelled with my colleagues this time, instead of going independently with the train. This didn’t give me the option I gave myself last time of bailing out if things got tough. I met a new animal ambulance board member in our car pool. She’s a lot younger than existing board members and is keen to shake things up and inject some (more) energy into the organisation. I sincerely hope she’s able to cut through the frost of convention!
I was checked in by one of the DierenLot staff who I see several times at the DierenLot academy. Incidentally, she checked me in last time too!
We were packed like sardines once we were inside, even though we’d got there early. I thought I saw the back of the head of the lady at the DOCW shelter where we adopted our cat, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to her this time. And I bumped into and chatted with one of the trainers at the DierenLot academy. I’ve attended 2 of her excellent courses on dogs, though I must admit I hadn’t ear-marked the talk she was giving today.
We wandered around a little to get our bearings, regrouped with the other carpoolers from the animal ambulance and awaited the welcome speech.
The welcome speech
Loud. It was a circus. Then we piled into various rooms around the edge of the central hall to listen to various talks.
Note: Any errors in the (mis)information below lies with me and not with the presenters; I listened in Dutch and can easily have misunderstood what was said.
Do’s and don’ts for the care of young mammals by wildlife rescue centers and animal ambulances
Presented by Stef Arens, Stichting Snorhaar.
A few points that stood out to me:
- It’s the baby hedgehogs just after birth when their mother is nearby who have the highest survival rate of all hedgehogs.
- There’s no need to give milk to a hedgehog because any hedgehog in need of milk receives it from his mother.
- Normal milk (I presume this is cow milk) is terrible for all garden animals.
- Looking after many hedgehogs in one place means there is a real danger of a sick one infecting the others. It’s better to have many smaller houses than one large one.
- Small hedgehogs that are brought in to the shelter are ‘labelled’ with a small amount of nail polish on their nails(!)
- We learned how to check a hedgehog’s belly when he’s rolling up defensively.
Animal abuse comes in many forms. How do you deal with this as an animal rescuer?
Presented by Nienke Endenburg, Landelijk Expertisecentrum Dierenmishandeling and Universitair Hoofddocent en GZ psycholoog.
First up a bit of networking. I sat next to someone who organised “guest families” – families who look after and raise kittens until they are socialised and ready for adoption. I asked her if it’s difficult to give away kittens that you’ve spent time with. She said she knows the give-away moment is coming, but she also knows the kitten is going to a good home (otherwise it wouldn’t be up for adoption!).
The talk
For those who don’t care about animals, think about this: animal cruelty is often a red flag for future abuse against people and children.
As you might expect, this was a shocking and emotional presentation. It was held in one of the larger rooms at the congress centre and it was chocka. I heard terrible things I could never think of that are done to animals and that I can’t bring myself to repeat here. The room had an uncomfortable undercurrent of stunned silence and outrage.
I can only describe Nienke as an angel. Whereas I heard about absolutely disgusting, cretinous, horrible monsters out there (my words), Nienke was aware that this despicable side of humanity is often a sign that something is wrong with the person and they need help. What is their motivation? What are their thought processes?
The positive side to this was seeing a room packed with people from the other side of the spectrum! 🙂
An enormously important take-home message for me is there’s an emergency number for animals in the Netherlands! Who’d have thought?!
Call 144 for animal-related emergencies such as:
- Animal abuse
- Severe neglect
- Animal in acute distress/injured
- Illegal breeding operations
- Stray or injured wildlife
Lunch
(I’ve marked my personal image below as private because it contains people.)
Last November I felt awkward walking around on my own. It was nice to have my lunch amongst my colleagues, but after I’d eaten I felt a bit trapped and wanted to look around some more. I headed out to chat to some people at the stalls.
My main goal was to visit House of Animals. I desperately wanted to see them in November but I couldn’t find them. Maybe that was good; I was generally interested in what they do but I had nothing to add. Now I want to see if there’s anything I can do to help them!
Goal!!!
This time I knew where they were hiding. I waited for a quiet moment and spoke to Karen Soeters, the President, Founder & Head of Animal Crime Unit. Well, I say a “quiet moment” but that dratted circus music played loudly and it was difficult to hear each other. But I was able to tell her I’d love to give her some of my time and help her organisation in any way I can. My motivation? Easy. Spending my time dong things that give me energy towards a noble goal.
She asked me to follow up with an email (which I’ve done) and I’m eagerly awaiting her response! 🙂
Glove up!
My recent cat adventures at the animal ambulance have given me deep scratches (so a tetanus shot), a cat bite and more scratches (so anti-biotics and some chlorohexol(?) ) and indirectly, a splinter. All because I’m impulsive and impatient when I see cats in trouble. And also because I didn’t wear protective gloves 😉
My difficulty is protective gloves are thick and inflexible which makes them impractical. But flexible gloves don’t offer much protection. What to do? I saw a stall with a load of (very expensive) gloves laid out, so I took a look and asked for advice.
The lady there was sympathetic with my conundrum, but ultimately told me there was no solution; I should choose protection or flexibility.
Having thought about it later, I considered the similarity with telescopes. Bear with me…
What’s my best telescope to use – my little 120 mm aperture refractor on a wobbly tripod, or my enormous 250 mm aperture reflector on a sturdy equatorial tripod that tracks the Earth’s rotation and eliminates so-called star drift (when stars drift across the field of view because the Earth rotates)? The small refractor gives images that are OK. The huge (1.2 m long, 30 cm wide) and heavy (about 60 kg all in) beast gives spectacular views!
Most astronomy forums would suggest the smaller scope is best. Why? Because it’s the one I use the most. I can grab it, set it up and start observing in as little as 5 minutes. It’s a good 30 minutes for the bigger one, during which the clouds might come!
So back to the gloves. The big thick protective gloves are no use to me because as my injuries testify, I don’t use them. I think I’m better off getting flexible gloves which I will use and at least get some limited protection instead of nothing.
Free Birthday Calendar
Yes, it’s as shallow as it sounds. I found a stall with an organisation which looked liked it supported injured animals. Obviously this piqued my interest so I asked the lady there about it. It turns out they finance other companies who support injured animals, and she made it clear she didn’t have time for me. I approached 2 other ladies sitting on stools nearby for some more info. They redirected me back to lady #1 who was now playing with cuddly toys and a couple of policemen(!) Fine. I asked if I could have a “birthday calendar” (yes) and I left.
(See page 83 of my “Survive and Thrive” guide for expats for a description of what a birthday calendar is! 😉 )
From neglected to loved. Donkey suffering and donkey love.
Presented by Peter-Paul van den Berg and Jacqueline van den Berg from Stichting de Ezelshoeve.
You’ve heard the question: Are you a cat person or a dog person?
Neither – this couple are donkey people! 🙂
“There’s no animal as nice as a donkey!”
On their T-Shirt:
Always be yourself
Unless you can be a donkey
Then
Always be a donkey!
You get the picture?!
Their presentation was beautifully authentic and if you didn’t love donkeys before the talk, you would now! (And if you don’t love donkeys after the talk then go back to your manufacturer and ask for an emotional chip upgrade.)
Some of the points that stood out to me:
Donkeys are too easy to neglect.
“That animal looks sad.”
“It’s OK, that’s a donkey!”
“No that’s a sad donkey.”
Peter-Paul and Jacqueline are very knowledgeable and experienced with donkeys and know and understand them well. I’m gonna throw in another link to ezelshoeve so you can read for yourselves!
There were questions and answers at the end of the presentation. Peter-Paul and Jacqueline’s authenticity radiated with clear and definitive answers that addressed specific personal questions. No hiding behind hedgey, fluffy answers, but hard core “yes”and “no”. Awesome!
Wild stray cats, how can you help them?
Presented by Marleen Drijgers and Rosanna Anemaal, Stichting Scheldekat.
This presentation gave some useful, practical advice for collecting stray cats, stray kittens, and stray kittens with their mothers.
Marleen Drijgers: “Castration is the only way to reduce stray cats. The Netherlands lags behind other European countries where castrating cats is compulsory.” I might have misunderstood the Dutch here. I hope so. I’m not educated or knowledgeable in this field, but there’s something about this statement that gives me the creeps. I think I don’t agree with this.
A comment was made earlier about the unforgettable sight of a mother cat immediately in love with her 2 kittens after a C-section delivery. This seems to confirm my thought.
Rosanna Anemaal: “Care gives life, love gives chances” 🙂
Closing Ceremony
Stichting DierenLot donated varying sums of money to a number of organisations. And the Animal Ambulance received a nice donation too! 🙂
Everyone piled out at the same time when the closing ceremony finished. It was well organised but naturally there was a lot of queuing to get through the 4 or 5 exits and receive goodie bags.
I’d learned that the best place to stand in a queuing crowd is at the edge. Forward progress is slowed by people cutting in front of you from each side, so if you’re at the edge of the crowd then you’re slowed by people from only one side. So I queued at the edge where I passed a counter-top with a book opened on this page:
Final Thoughts
The day was a total success! The talks on animal cruelty and the donkey love really touched me, and I’m super pleased about meeting Karen from House of Animals. I wish I could have had a proper conversation with her, but oddly enough, it seems to me that these events are more for meeting people than chatting to them about real content. I’m looking forward to hearing back from her.
On a more personal note, my energy level was way up from last time, so this is an excellent point for me to hang on to. I talked to people I planned to as well as people I randomly encountered. And for what it’s worth, I got a birthday calendar too! 😜
