In December 2021 four year old Asiye Ates suffered terrible injuries after being mauled by two dogs who lived with people. The incident prompted President Erdogan to make a speech in which he told “White Turks” to take responsibility for their animals. White Turks is a phrase used to describe secular Turks who have an affinity with Europe. We believe that this speech was misunderstood by many, resulting in the mass rounding up & killing of dogs on the streets.
Within days reports were circulating of dogs being cleared in huge numbers from streets & driven to forests & mountains far from towns & cities. Without food or water the dogs perish quickly. Others were taken to inadequate municipal shelters where they languished due to underfunding & poor management. The shelters that we are familiar with in Europe are few & far between. The government run what is known as nursing homes. The primary function of these nursing homes is to provide assistance to dogs who would not cope on the streets. Dogs who need medical care or rehabilitation. They are few & far between & with the exception of two they are very poorly run.
Members of the public with a dislike for dogs took it upon themselves to clear the streets of dogs with reports of shootings, poisonings & beatings.
The global dog loving community were calling for someone to step in & help the dogs, so we did. Initially we arranged for as many dogs as we could to be taken to places of safety & co-ordinated the food support they needed. However we felt that this wasn’t enough. We wanted to create lasting change.
That lasting change came when we were made aware of a municipal shelter built in 2018 but unused due to lack of funding. The shelter was vast with open spaces for the dogs to roam, kennel blocks & a building which could be used as a clinic. We approached the mayor with the assistance of an animal advocate living in the area & after some back & forth it was agreed that the shelter could be opened to take dogs.
A daunting process for such a tiny organisation with no budget for such a huge undertaking. We needed to buy huts to shelter the free roaming dogs, an empty room needed to be made in to a fully stocked operational clinic & so much more. Fearless & confident we would find a way to make it happen we set about fundraising.
£13,500 was raised to purchase 350 wooden huts to shelter the free roaming dogs from rain & sun. They were painted bright cheerful colours, each bearing the name of a kind donor who made their purchase possible. The Mayor pitched in & supplied 50 huts.
Stainless steel food & water troughs were needed along with bowls for dogs in individual kennels (pregnant or nursing mums, convalescing dogs etc) We were able to supply them from fundraising efforts including a sponsored walk undertaken by a rescue dog in the UK called Duke.
An empty room was made in to a functioning clinic with the building of cupboards, worktops, sink & a fridge to store temperature sensitive medicine. We donated an operating table & theatre lamp & all equipment needed to make the room useable. The shopping list was extensive from medications to bandages & kidney dishes, sutures & everything a vet would need to operate.
This is Annie. She came under our care with 145 other at risk dogs who were being killed with poisoned darts on the streets. She was the first dog to use one of the huts in the free roaming area. An older dog she will live the rest of her life in safety with all her needs met.
