Dendermonde (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The City of Dendermonde will collaborate with animal-welfare organisation Dierenwereldkruis to provide shelter and care for dogs in need, strengthening cooperation between municipal services, the local police and specialist animal-care professionals.

Contents

What will the new partnership provide?
Which dogs could be taken to the shelter?
What is Dierenwereldkruis’s role?
Has Dendermonde used similar measures before?
Are there similar cases elsewhere in Belgium?

This collaboration will assist in receiving stray, abandoned, neglected and confiscated dogs, in addition to providing the city and Local Police Dendermonde with the expertise that the shelter has in dealing with animals that require temporary care, treatment, and behavioral evaluation.

“Both the city and the local police will be able to count on the expertise of the non-profit,” Alderman for Animal Welfare Laurens Hofman of Vernieuwing said.

What will the new partnership provide?

Dierenwereldkruis is supposed to act as a shelter partner of choice for stray dogs under this agreement. The organization will get hold of the animal when there is a need to shelter it. The cooperation should result in a more organized approach when there is a complaint about a stray dog. This way, instead of arranging the process individually, the city and the police will have a reliable partner that has experience with the animal handling process. The official advice from the municipality of Dendermonde suggests calling the police if one finds a roaming dog. The Local Police Dendermonde can be reached at 052 25 12 00 during office hours and 101 for urgent cases.

Which dogs could be taken to the shelter?

The cooperation is expected to cover several categories of dogs, including animals that are:

Found roaming without an owner.
Abandoned or surrendered by their owners.
Neglected or suspected of being mistreated.
Seized during animal-welfare or judicial investigations.
Injured, frightened or otherwise unable to remain safely in their original surroundings.

The role of the shelter will become crucial if there is no possibility of immediately returning the animal back to its owner. The dog which is being investigated might need to stay at the shelter until it becomes clear whose dog it is.

What is Dierenwereldkruis’s role?

Dierenwereldkruis VZW is a refuge organization in Sint-Amands that houses stray dogs and cats, animals confiscated by authorities, and animals surrendered by their owners. It also takes care of animals and helps them get adopted when they are ready for adoption. The organization is situated in Hemelrijken 24 in Sint-Amands and is listed in Flanders as an animal refuge organization for dogs and cats.

The activities of the organization include admission, housing, veterinary care, identification and adoption preparations. Animals admitted to the organization may require medical examination, vaccination, microchipping, quarantine, and behavioral test. Dierenwereldkruis has said before that animals are put into quarantine prior to being made ready for adoption, which means that the number of places available for admission becomes smaller. The organization is highly dependent on the work of volunteers and their help in dog walking and animal care. The need for people to walk the dogs, especially bigger ones, has been noted in the information provided by the organization.

Has Dendermonde used similar measures before?

The collaboration is built on previous actions that Dendermonde has undertaken to improve its handling of welfare cases for animals. For example, in October 2021, the Local Police of Dendermonde formed an animal policing unit that consisted of nine police officers. According to a news report in Het Nieuwsblad, the police officers collected 37 stray animals, initiated 26 cases regarding animal welfare, prepared 29 reports, and gave out seven warnings. These statistics clearly illustrate the scope of work related to the treatment of animals that local authorities have to handle. While in 2021, the emphasis was placed mainly on police capacities, the current agreement includes a more official shelter aspect.

Are there similar cases elsewhere in Belgium?

Shelters in Belgium and Flanders have experienced increased demand due to issues of abandonment, neglect, confiscation, and the rise in surrendered pets. For example, in February 2026, eight German shepherds, six of which were puppies, were admitted to the shelter following their judicial confiscation in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. This case revealed that shelters might need to keep pets for longer periods of time until legal matters are resolved.

According to the report from April 2026, a shelter in Ghent had accommodated 114 dogs in one year because of the cases of severe neglect. The same report indicated that there had been a doubling of complaints about animal abuse in Ghent in the past five years. While these statistics relate to Ghent, not to Dendermonde, they demonstrate the situation at large.

In June 2026, Flemish Minister for Animal Welfare Ben Weyts said that more than 2,000 animals in Flemish shelters were waiting for adoption. The figure included dogs, cats and other animals and underlined the region-wide shortage of available homes and shelter capacity.