Project: A passion for animals and a passion for nature

During the corona crisis of 2020 and a large part of 2021, a lot of animals were sold as many people sought out the warmth and comfort of a new pet. Unfortunately, once the crisis neared its end, many pets were dumped or abandoned. A situation of which we, as a wholesaler, cannot approve. We are often singled out as the cause of our society viewing pets as consumer goods, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our company is not called Passion for Animals for no reason. Animal welfare is therefore very important to us, but we also want to go a step further.

Many of the animals we sell end up dumped or abandoned and we deeply regret that. The big question which arose was: how can we help combat this situation? Many shelters told us to just stop selling animals, but is that really the solution? The animals will be bought elsewhere, often for much lower prices, which in our opinion only reinforces the "disposable" aspect, because, after all, it is "only 10 €" left behind... That is why we chose to go further.

We changed our health booklets to include the fact that an animal is a purchase made for life, and not for as long as it suits you. Even if for some reason it gets a little more difficult, you are and will remain responsible for the pet you chose. In addition to this informative message, we also wished to make a financial contribution. It was not easy to find someone who would listen to our story without pointing to us as the cause of the neglected animals, but in the end we did find a partner: the Belgian bird and wild animal shelters. These people are often called in to take in and shelter abandoned or neglected animals. This means that they too have to bear the financial costs associated with this, often with limited government support. That is why we entered into a commitment that for every rodent or rabbit with a health booklet sold, we would make a contribution to Belgian bird and wild animal shelters. This project has been running successfully since February 2021. We have already been able to contribute a nice amount and hope, in addition to raising awareness with the general public, to support the people who work every day to take care of neglected and abandoned animals, as we owe them a debt of gratitude.

Our cooperation is also highlighted on their website. You can find out more via this link.

And a passion for nature...

There is no denying that companies like Passion for Animals has a fairly large ecological footprint. Aquariums have to be heated, fish arrive by plane, vans drive back and forth to deliver animals or to take them to pet stores. The impact is often greater than one would think. This also concerns Passion for Animals. Step by step we try to find solutions to lessen our company's ecological impact. At the beginning of this year, our vans were replaced by vans with an AdBlue tank in addition to diesel, mainly to limit the emission of harmful greenhouse gases. We realize, better than anyone, that this is just a first step in the right direction and that there is still a long way to go. 

At the same time as the above-mentioned project "a passion for animals" we decided, in addition to donating to the bird and wild animal shelters, to also make a contribution for each rodent sold with a certificate which consists of planting trees under the sub-project "and a passion for nature". The purpose of these trees is to offset some of the greenhouse gases we produce and to reduce our ecological footprint. We realize, of course, that removing the source of these greenhouse gases is a more important step, but by means of this compensation we try to have a first short-term impact and at least already compensate our ecological footprint on nature. We remain permanently committed to our company "going green", but also continue to plant trees in a first step towards a more beautiful world.

Meanwhile, our "forest" is already taking shape quite nicely. You can always find a current update (every quarter we plant new trees) via this link.