Welcome back to the BBC: Buff's Belgian Column. I reckon I've already told you the most important things about Belgium and it's people in the last few weeks. So I figured it's time to tell you something about the Belgian wildlife. No, I won't talk about beer-sipping party-animals who will never belong to the endangered species in Belgium.

Belgium has no heraldic animal nor does it have any unique species like Australia has. The most widespread animals are cattle and pigs. Farms are not as large as in Australia, though. In my village of 384 people there are 14 farmers of whom the biggest has around 60 cows and he doesn't need no days to cross his land. Farmers usually have a few acres here and a few acres there but most farmers don't have any large, continuous fields and meadows.

Beef and porc are also the most eaten kinds of meat. Although the consumption of beef has declined during the last 2 years because of all the talks about BSE (mad cow desease). During the last few weeks, swine fever has been discovered in some regions of the Netherlands and now also Belgium. So right now people are more careful about eating meat. Deseases are spreaking among all different sorts of animals. (Corruption is a virus that is infesting some local, federal and national politicians. But what's new in Belgium, the country of corruption, scandals and taxes.)

Back to nature. When you visit the Belgian coast, you should definitely go to "Het Zwin". This is a really nice national park and nature reserve for birds. All kind of birds can be observed here and as the beach is only a short walk away where you can see even more nice birds... However Belgium is not exactly a surfer's paradise.

The central provinces of Belgium don't have any special natural features. Just lots of fields and meadows with canals, rivers and streams. The more you move to the south and south-east, the more the country becomes hilly and wooded. These are the Ardennes, also called the Belgian Highlands. The region where I live is part of the Ardennes - more precisely a sub-region called Eifel. It belongs to one of the largest European cross-country original nature reserves. This marshland with lots of peaty soil is unique in whole Europe. People from all the surrounding countries come to this area for hiking and bush walking. However only certain parts are accessible to the public and special routes were developped to not disturb this unspoilt nature with animals such as the endangered species like wood grouse, wild cat, lynx and amphibians.

Other wild animals in the marshland and forests are fox, wild boar, stag, and red deer. Wolves have not been seen in this region for the last couple of decades. On a nice Sunday afternoon, you should go for a walk through the forests and if you are quiet enough, you can probably seen many of these animals. The animals will also be there on other days, for that matter. You need a special licence if you'd like to go hunting. You usualy buy the licence for one district for a couple of hunting seasons. There is even a sheikh from the Persian Gulf who bought a licence to go hunting in our forests.

As a large area of the region is covered by forests, there is also a lot of wood industry: sawmills, paper factories, carpenters,... Belgium is well-known for its high quality furniture. Lots of furniture stores and cabinet-makers can be found in East-Belgium. Many Germans cross the border to buy their furnitures. Sometimes they buy houses, too: one East-Belgian town has 50% inhabitants from Germany who drive back to their home country for work each day. However they have less taxes to pay and their children benefit from the good education system in Belgium without having to pay anything as in Germany. This may explain why some East-Belgians are envious of Germans. Each country seems to have its own Queensland...

The most popular domestic animals are cats and dogs. In East-Belgium, many families are now thinking about getting a dog because of the increasing burglaries by eastern-European gangs. At home we've also got a dog, Tops. She comes from Italy, originally. She doesn't always do what we tell her maybe she still hasn't learned any German in all those years that she's been with us... Recently she has been promoted from an office-(basement)-dog to a living-room dog. Because Tops is affraid of the sounds of explosions produced by military shooting exercices she is now allowed to spend the evening with the family.

The largest Belgian military shooting range is just 5 KM away. It's one of the two shooting ranges in Belgium where live ammunition may be used. In summer this sometimes results in bush fires. Belgian troops are part of NATO and have also been send to conflict zones like former Yugoslavia, Persian Gulf and central Africa,... under the patronage of the United Nations. When there are no military exercices, the military domain is very nice for walks, riding or cycling.

If you are interested in fishing, you should definitely come to East-Belgium. There are a couple of big lakes and lots of small ponds and rivers where can catch all different kinds of fish. A fisherman's paradise. The largest European trout nursery is also nearby.

That's about all for this week's column. If you have any suggestions for topics that I should cover in my next column, please write me on the Internet at joe@buff.euregio.net or by fax +32 80 642 285. I'm also open for any other comments, questions and corrections. All of the past issues can be read on the World Wide Web at http://www.euregio.net/joe/column.html

That's all folks!

Joe Buff.