A hotline for the public to report urgent cases of animal abuse came into being on Tuesday, but there is confusion about the actual phone number, the Volkskrant reports.

Since the idea of the animal cops was first mooted last year, the emergency number to reach them was given as 114.
But on official documents published for the launch, the number to reach police officers trained to deal with animal emergencies is given as 144.
The reason for the change is unclear and no-one from the responsible ministry was available for comment, the paper says.