Due to lack of funding, the South Champagne animal care center extends its closure

The Red Kite is grateful. It passed into the hands of the caretakers of the South Champagne wildlife care center a few years ago, after being collected in a slurry pit. The raptor is now in great shape and equipped with a beacon. It allows you to follow his journey across Europe. Depending on the seasons, it oscillates between Sweden and Spain, flying over the permanent center for environmental initiatives (CPIE) each time.

During his last visit, he must have been surprised by the calm of the boxes and aviaries where the center’s residents normally undergo their convalescence. The wildlife care center housed, among others, by the CPIE, is at a standstill. Closed at the beginning of October, it should have resumed its activities in mid-January. It will be, in the best case scenario, mid-March.

“For two years, we have closed for part of the winter but this year, we are forced to extend this period. We lack funding to ensure our operations,” admits Stéphane Bellenoue, director of CPIE Sud Champagne, located in Soulaines-Dhuys, to the east of the Aube department.

Established around ten years ago, the wildlife care center welcomes an average of a thousand animals per year. “We have reached 1,700 and there can be up to 200 animals at the same time,” underlines Céline Luck, one of the center’s two permanent carers. A few years ago, there were three, in addition to volunteers. “We had to go back to two trainers at the end of 2023 and we called on a fixed-term contract in 2024,” continues Stéphane Bellenoue.

50,000 euros to open all year round

The annual operating budget exceeds 100,000 euros. “Before, our activity was partly self-financed by different programs. Some stopped. The rest of the budget comes from a subsidy from the Grand Est region and donations,” explains Stéphane Bellenoue. The center is missing 50,000 euros to open all year round and continue to take care of animals collected by individuals free of charge.

While waiting to open again, the center encourages people to get closer to equivalent centers, in particular that of Valleroy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) about forty kilometers northwest of Metz. “We communicated quite a bit in advance so that those who find animals do not bring them here and we are lucky to have a good network of repatriators with the LPO (bird protection league) to bring injured animals to other centers,” relates Céline Luck.

At cruising speed, the center of southern Champagne takes care of birds (80% of its activity) and small mammals from Aube, Marne, Haute-Marne, Meuse and part of the Ardennes and Vosges. Deer, deer and wild boar cannot be accommodated due to lack of suitable equipment.

A gradual reopening from mid-March

The center takes advantage of this “free time” to tidy up and, above all, prepare subsidy application files for the communities in its area of ​​action. Donations have arrived since the start of the year, following the media coverage of its difficulties, but we are still far from the amount necessary to complete the budget.

“We are going to carry out a gradual reopening,” supposes Stéphane Bellenoue. The center should be relaunched a few days a week from mid-March and continue to rely on its counterpart in Valleroy, open 7 days a week. Will the Red Kite find the usual sound volume of the aviaries during its next flight over Soulaines-Dhuys?