Flemish reception centers caught 38,063 Wild animals in 2024: Hedgehog was brought in the most often

« The animal that was most often brought in in 2024 was again the hedgehog, » says Bram Renmans, coordinator for the reception centers at Bird Protection Flanders, in a press release on Thursday. « Spread over the various reception centers, no fewer than 8,347 were taken care of in the past year. »

After the hedgehog, the wood pigeon (5,693 cases) is the most often brought in, followed by the Merel (1,852), the Turkish turtle (1,456) and the chew (1,374). Other wild animals that regularly arrive at the centers are the house sparrow, great tit, herring gull, wild duck and magpie. Although the hedgehog is the most collected animal in the VOCs, the share of mammals is limited: 12,071 cases or 31.7 percent. In addition, 25,728 out of 38,063 are wild animals (67.6 percent) birds.

Read too. The hedgehog is almost threatened with extinction, and that is mainly due to humans

Just over a quarter of the animals that were brought to the centers are younger animals that fell out of the nest or have lost their parents (26 percent). In addition, 15.5 percent of the cases are a weakened animal, in 10.5 percent of the cases an animal that is injured or has a break. Six percent of the cases are a sick animal.

In 6 percent of the cases, a cat played a role in the reason why the animal ended up in the reception center. Other known culprits are traffic (5.6 percent), windows of buildings (4.7 percent) and dogs (1 percent), according to Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen.