The world’s most famous ostrich, with 1.1 million followers on TikTok, is back home: ‘I feel whole again’

after beno (Big Bird in English, editor) From Sesame Street, Fluder is the most famous ostrich in the world. Wendy’s TikTok videos featuring Flodder are getting millions of views. She has 1.1 million followers.

“Only 3% of my followers are from Belgium. Most of them think I’m American,” said Wendy, known as The Ostrich Whisperer. She has amazed ostrich connoisseurs the world over with her ability to cuddle widely with Flodder and Blue, who she raised as a chick since young age, while South African ostriches are aggressive by nature.

When she made a stir on social media, Wendy was still living at Koch’s Corner in Gooreind (Wuustwezel). But at some point something went wrong. Flodder, now 3.5 years old, had become sexually mature and wanted to mate with Blue, but Blue always turned his advances down. After the thousandth rejection, Flodder collapsed. He kicked Blue so hard that she couldn’t walk for weeks.

Wendy was standing among the birds during the accident and was injured as well. She then had to make the heartbreaking decision to put both Blue and Flodder on an ostrich farm so they could build a flock among the species.

But both animals are not 100% rooted in the herd. Meanwhile, Wendy Adriaens has moved with her gang of animals to a farm with plenty of land, De Passiehoeve in Kalmthout, where rescue farm was established. Now she has enough room to house Flodder and his “former” blues separately in a large meadow.

Blue is already back and in the meantime Rhea and emu join him, they are all separated. Three weeks ago, Wendy went to the farm where Fluder was staying, to see if her older lover still recognized her and could come back.

“I’ve never seen it before,” says the farmer, who has years of experience working with South African ostriches. Fluder saw Wendy and recognized her immediately. She spread her picnic blanket and moments later he was already lying with his neck on her neck. We’ve never seen him mate in the herd or anything else. It’s not that he built a love life here. He remained an outsider and walked between them. Is Wendy considered a mother because she gave birth to him since he hatched? At least I saw how happy he was to see his owner again.”

Wendy has been counting down every hour for Fluder’s comeback over the past few days. Arrived on Monday right away at 1pm in a trailer in De Passiehoeve. It must have been the wind on the open meadow, but tears literally rolled from his eyes when he saw Wendy. He also started flapping his wings. “They usually do it when they start breeding, but now I think it’s ‘reza’,” says the ostrich farmer.

blanket

At Wendy’s first call to embrace the blanket, Flodder was stunned. It took him an hour and a half to get used to his new surroundings in Calmut. He didn’t pay much attention to Blue, who was standing in the distance.

When Wendy came back with her blanket an hour and a half later, Fluder lay down, put his bird’s head on her neck and neck and even closed his eyes for a moment, it was ‘cold’.

The farmer who brought Fluder back said, after Fluder’s initial hesitation, “Give him a week before he goes packing again, because it’s all new to him here.” But after an hour and a half the fluder has already melted.

walnut size

“And to say an ostrich’s brain is the size of a walnut,” notes Gabrielle, 13, Wendy’s daughter. “However, they have such a tremendous memory. It is a shame that he has not forgotten my mother after seven months.”

Wendy laughs: “The world has been waiting for him to come back.” “I’ve had a lot of responses from all over the world asking when Flodder will be back in my TikTok videos.”

De Passiehoeve was already in the papers in April, when Wendy Adriaens greeted two badly neglected old horses, who narrowly escaped the long traffic jam on E19 after a serious bus accident in Schutten. Meanwhile, the horses that were so weak at the time had changed so much that it was hard to recognize them. They still look a bit great, but that’s because of age. Winston celebrated his 23rd birthday on June 23. But other than that, they look so uptight, happy, and bubbly. Gabrielle (13), Wendy’s daughter, pampers the horses. They receive a few doses of Focus every day, and are still cared for via a collecting drive from Gaëlle Schram of Nijlen, who transported horses from a shelter to Kalmthout with her father Jean-Marie in April. “Adap as much as you like,” Gabrielle says.

Want to see a massive fluder? Follow his adventures through Wendy Adriaens (Tweet embed) on TikTok.

passion farm (see Facebook social networking site) Officially opens on August 1, but can be visited and already booked for children’s parties, etc.