More and more municipalities in the Netherlands are scrapping the dog tax. In 2010, dog tax was still levied in 308 of the 431 municipalities. This year only 193 municipalities are still taxing dog ownership, eight fewer than in 2019, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Tuesday.
The municipalities that still tax dog ownership, expect to collect a total of 51 million euros in dog tax this year, 2.9 percent les than in 2019.
Three men and a woman from the province of Utrecht were convicted for organizing dog fights, animal abuse, and breeding fighting dogs. One was given a prison sentence, the rest various lengths of community service. They are also banned from owning dogs for three years, NOS reports.
The court considered it proven that the four organized and filmed at least four dog fights in Amersfoort, Zeist and Soest.
The military dog that helped track down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria on Saturday, was trained in the Netherlands. "I recognized him immediately", Marco van Hoof, director of Hondenadvies Centrum Nederland, said to Editie NL.
"I thought: I know him, that dog was here", Van Hoof said. The Belgian Shepherd trained at his location in Best, before being transported to America via Amsterdam. "With this as a result", Van Hoof said. "It is a male of five years old. He is a very good dog."
The police are looking for a young woman whose rottweiler bit three young children in Nieuwegein on Sunday afternoon. After the incident, the woman leashed her dog and ran away, without leaving her details.
For the fourth year in a row, Max was the most popular name for a dog in the Netherlands last year. Simba was the most popular name for a cat, according to an annual overview by pet insurer Reaal Dier & Zorg.
The only new name in the dogs' top five is Lola in fifth place, according to. Second place went to Bella, third to Pip and fourth to Bo. Bailey dropped off the top 5.
The National Animal Protection Inspectorate took 44 dogs from a filthy home in Noord-Holland. The resident was not able to take good care of the animals, according to the animal welfare organization. The dogs were very neglected and the house was covered in urine and dog poop, ANP reports.
The animals had inflamed ears, bad teeth, and coats with lots of tangles. Some of them were also underweight. They were taken to a shelter to receive the necessary care.
While enjoying the hot summer weather in the Netherlands this week, remember to also make sure your pets are cool and hydrated. By now everyone should know not to leave their pets in hot cars, but also take note that dogs can burn their feet on hot asphalt and cats can fall out of high windows while looking for a cool breeze, Dierenambulance Amsterdam warns on Facebook.
Thijs H., who is suspected of killing three people in dog walking areas in Scheveningen and Heerlen, was remanded into another 14 days of custody on Wednesday. The 27-year-old man from The Hague will be admitted to the Pieter Baan Center for psychological observation, the examining magistrate decided, NU.nl reports.
H. is suspected of killing three people. He is facing charges of murder or manslaughter, depending on whether premeditation can be proven.
Former students of Leiden University are shocked by the news that their classmate Thijs H. is now suspected of three murders. The two former students, who studied in the same faculty as H. in the 2014/2015 academic year, knew him as soft-natured and friendly, if somewhat of a wallflower, Omroep West reports.
The police are looking for witnesses or anyone who has information on the murder of a 56-year-old woman in the Scheveningen woods. The woman's body was found on Galgenpad at 3:38 p.m. on Saturday, May 4th.
The number of cats and dogs used for medical experiments increased by 49 percent in 2017. In that year 909 dogs and 200 cats were used as lab animals, compared to 656 dogs and 89 cats in 2016, AD reports based on figures from the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA.
Half of the laboratory dogs and a third of the cats did not survive the experiments in 2017, according to the newspaper.
Four hikers were caught by the rising tide off the coast of the Zeeland village o Renesse on Thursday. A 45-year-old woman from Vilvoorde, Belgium, drowned. Her two children aged 17 and 8, and a 23-year-old woman from Renesse were injured, NOS reports.
The Dutch woman and her three dogs, and the Belgian woman and her son and daughter were walking on Verklikkerstrand when they got stuck on a sandbank by the rising tide. According to the police, they did not know each other.
Inspectors from the Netherlands' national inspection service for animal protection LID and officers from the animal police confiscated 100 dogs from a breeder in Deventer last week because of the horrible conditions the animals were kept in, Animal Protection announced on Tuesday.
A Hague dog decided to scare his owner and go on a little adventure on Tuesday. The not-so-good boy went missing from The Hague on Tuesday afternoon, and was later found riding in the first class compartment of the train to Leiden Central Station, the Leiden Noord police said on Facebook.
On Tuesday afternoon the police in The Hague received a report of the missing pet. The dog was last seen near the train on the station. His owner had no idea where the dog wandered off to.
The Veterinary Medicine faculty of Utrecht University 3D printed a skull cap for a dog - a premier in Europe. The dog had a benign tumor removed from the skull bone last year and the tumor was so large that he needed a new skull cap, NU.nl reports.
Police officers in Gouda encountered an ungrateful passenger on Monday night. The officers loaded a stray dog out of the rain and into their car, only to be chased out of the car by that same dog.
"Last night we helped with catching a stray dog. When the boxer was hot and dry in the car, he showed his teeth and decided that the officers were no longer welcome", the Gouda police said on Twitter.
The officers had to wait outside, in the rain, for the animal ambulance to arrive.
A 2.5 year old American Stafford was found abandoned at the door af a closed animal shelter in Rotterdam on Monday morning. The sad discovery was made even sadder by a note found with the dog. "Can't take care of him anymore, have no income and I'm on the street now", the dog's owner wrote.
"PLEASE take good care of him. He's a good dog. I couldn't do anything else - sorry", the note, which the police posted on Twitter, reads. "His name is Zion. 2.5 years old."
The police call on Zion's owner to come forward. Not for punishment, but for help, the officer wrote on Twitter.
From 2020 all new dogs in the Netherlands must get a passport, Minister Carola Schouten of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality announced on Thursday. The government hopes that this will help in the fight against illegal animal trade. Animal welfare and taking good care of animals is "everyone's moral duty", the Minister wrote in a letter to parliament, NU.nl reports.
A 68-year-old woman was attacked by a dog on Kouterstraat in Rotterdam on Monday afternoon. She was taken to hospital with serious injuries, the Telegraaf reports.
The woman was walking on the street around 3:00 p.m. when the dog suddenly attacked her, according to the newspaper. Witnesses immediately called the police. The victim hid in a house while bystanders kept the dog under control.
Emergency services responded to the scene. The woman was taken to the Maasstad Hospital Rotterdam with bites to her arm and abdomen.
The police broke multiple car windows at the RAI in Amsterdam, where the World Dog Show 2018 is taking place, to rescue overheating dogs. Multiple dog owners were fined 750 euros for leaving their pets in the hot car, ANP reports.
While the heatwave is over in the Netherlands, temperatures in a parked car can still quickly rise to 40 degrees, the police said. This can cause to overheat and even die. Police officers will perform extra checks at the RAI over the weekend to make sure no dogs are left in cars.
The police responded to Lekhaven in Rotterdam on Tuesday afternoon after getting a report of a body in the water. The police initially also thought it was a human body, but closer investigation showed that the body was that of a dead dog, ANP reports.
The report of the body came in around 5:00 p.m. The police responded, also sending forensic investigators to the scene.
After around an hour of investigation, the police determined that the object was not a human body, but the body of a dog.
On Tuesday the animal police, working with the national inspectorate for animal protection LID and the Public Prosecutor, seized 47 dogs and puppies in a commercial building in the municipality of Hof van Twente. The animals were found in appalling conditions and all showed signs of neglect, the police said in a statement.
A 63-year-old man from the same municipality was arrested for illegal trade in dogs and withholding the necessary care.
The police, with the help of the Koninklijke Marechaussee and bystanders, arrested a 58-year-old drunk driver from Hoogerheide on Sunday night. The man drove several kilometers on his trike, dragging a dog behind it. He hit at least two cars, the police said in a statement on Monday morning.
A hiker and his dog found a body in the woods near Ermelo on Thursday afternoon. The body had been there for some time. The cause of death is still unclear, but in such cases, the police assume a crime, officer Ruud van Nieuwenhuizen said to De Gelderlander.
The body is in an advance stage of decomposition, making it harder to determine the cause of death or even the identity of the victim. "The body has been in the woods for a long time. It's probably a man, considering the clothes", Van Nieuwenhuizen said to the newspaper.
