April 14, 2019

Most Dutch people talk to their pets

Filed under: Animals by Branko Collin @ 11:34 pm

Assocation of language lovers Onze Taal (‘our language’) has published the results of an informal poll that suggests that 95% of all Dutch pet owners talk to their pets.

The type of pet and whether or not the animal is deaf doesn’t seem to matter. People address their pets in their local dialect.

Popular ‘conversations’ are: admonishments, compliments (“Who is the cutest kitten in the world? You are!”), sharing what the owner is going to do (“Mummy is going to the pet store”) and, apparently, deliberation (“Is it OK if I move your bowl over here?”).

People don’t just talk to pets, but also inanimate objects. Furniture gets apologised to when bumped into, and encouragements are uttered towards blocked robotic vacuum cleaners and bent trees.

The poll was held in January among the visitors of the association’s website.

(Photo by Eddy Van 3000, some rights reserved)

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February 3, 2009

Amsterdam gets its first food bank for animals

Filed under: Animals,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 4:46 pm
Cat food

The very idea that people have to go to the food bank in the Netherlands, considering all the money and resources the poor have at their disposal, is shameful and embarrassing for many Dutch people. Not necessarily for the people who depend on the food banks, but the general view is that food banks should not exist and are painful to talk about.

But there’s a crisis on, and according to Animal Rescue Nederland, the first thing poor people skimp on is pet food. Animal Rescue Nederland is currently talking to several pet food manufacturers about putting together food parcels for people’s pets.

Will a food bank for animals be less of a taboo than for humans or will people comment about poor people owning pets they can’t afford in the first place? I wonder.

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October 11, 2008

Python found after 3000+ km underneath a car

Filed under: Animals,Automobiles by Branko Collin @ 10:33 am

A male Royal Python, a popular pet, travelled more than 3,000 kilometre in its owner’s car, hidden underneath the mudguard after having escaped from the house half a year ago. After Raymond Oosterbroek from Deventer had traded in his car, car salesman Marten van Kastel of Tonny Keijzers’ in Apeldoorn went to take photos of the Volvo S40 for their website. That’s when he discovered the snake. “At first I saw something brown, then noticed that it was a snake’s head, then suddenly I saw it move. It gave me quite a scare,” he told Telegraaf.

The python escaped half a year ago with its female mate. The female got no further than the bread basket, the male was luckier, at first. The stay underneath the car emaciated it fairly. The people from the car shop managed to drive it into a barrel, and from there into the arms of its owner.

Photo: a Royal Python by j4yx0r, some rights reserved.

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