Cuddle with a chicken? In the paradise of Ilse (53) it is possible: « Often people come along with depression or other disorders » (inland)
Those who like to resist the sentences can go to the chicken paradise of Ilse. There are more than seventy special chickens, ready for a hug. After a major industrial accident, it turned out that Ilse is the ideal therapy.
The chicken paradise is located along a small walking path behind Perelstraat. Four goats accompany more than seventy chickens from different plumage. The chicken paradise was created as a resting place of the local butcher’s daughter Ilse De Schepper, but is now open to anyone who needs a hug.
Ilse knows better than anyone that animals can have a huge healing function and even release a lucky hormone in our brains. She was very sporty with challenges such as triathlons and trail runs until a few years ago. Until fate struck her work and the sporting career came to an abrupt end.
Physically above mental health
During her work at Katoen Natie, Ilse ended up under a fortress lift, resulting in a heavy double open leg fracture.
« I stayed with consciousness during the entire incident, so I experienced everything, » says Ilse. « After the accident, I was determined to walk back as quickly as possible, so I recovered very intensely for two years. Unfortunately, I did not take care of my mental health enough. »
After the rehabilitation, a long process followed to get back to the workplace, but due to the post -traumatic stress disorder that she sustained in the work accident, that did not go as planned.
« I suddenly sat in a different body with a different mind and only came to rest when I was in nature and dealt with animals, » says Ilse. « That is why I have transformed a piece of building land in the Perelstraat that borders the milk vein into my chicken paradise. »
Mother
Because many people use the hiking road, the chicken paradise attracted a lot of attention. « People stopped to ask what I am doing here with all those animals, » says Ilse. « It was not long before the first children came by here to play with the animals and to help me with maintenance. In the meantime, there are a few dozen children from the neighborhood about which I take care of myself as a mother hen and let them do their thing here. »
« In addition to children, people often come along who themselves suffer from depression or other disorders. With a chicken on their lap they bloom completely open, and that makes me such a good. » Everyone is welcome to come and have a look, and if Ilse is there to cuddle with a chicken.
