The shelter has room for 750 dogs and is usually full
to the brim. And that’s not all – nearby is
a piece of woodland where approximately 1500 dogs live,
all ex-strays. These dogs are also fed and cared for by
the shelter employees. The council in Istanbul holds
regular poisoning campaigns in the neighbourhoods and
believes that this is the way to reduce the number of
strays. The SHKD has for years been campaigning for all
the strays to be castrated and then released back onto
the streets. The council is not interested in this
humane method, and doesn’t provide any financial
support.
Back to the shelter itself. Via kennel where a mother lay with her puppies we entered the cattery. Again no shortage of residents here. Sadly Holland already has too many cats, so the cats are only placed in Germany. The cattery is also handy for seeing how a dog reacts to cats.
How do Doruk and Tuana choose which dogs should have the chance of a new life in Holland and Germany? As far as Holland goes AAI gives them a free hand – the dogs they choose appear on the AAI website. It seems that smaller dogs are more popular than big ones, and further Doruk makes sure they are easy, friendly dogs. If the pacing is unsuccessful then AAI looks for another family for the dog and it is placed by a foster family in the meantime: the number if foster families in Holland in very limited. The German organisations on the other hand have several reception centres, but want to decide for themselves which dogs appear on their sites.
In another kennel were 9 puppies that had just been found. Doruk hadn’t been able to catch the mother as she was too shy. Further on a vet was treating a dog for mange by washing it with a special shampoo. There are three vets at the shelter, ad along with medical care they castrate the dogs, to break the vicious circle of more and more new arrivals.
The afternoon flew by, we could have stayed for hours looking a round. With it all still fresh in our minds we drove back to the city. It was so overwhelming, not because the dogs were in a bad way – they looked reasonably well cared for- but because of the numbers. So many terrific dogs – you want them all to have a loving home. It is such a pity that the Turks themselves hardly ever own a dog, never mind one from a shelter.
Two weeks later we were back in Istanbul: the holiday was over. That last evening we had a great meal out with Doruk and Tuana, with of course the dogs as the main topic of conversation. Hats off to these two young women. Doruk has a full time job, but has helped at the shelter for 6 years; Tuana is the mother of a toddler and has been helping for a couple of years. They bring dogs found on the street to the shelter, (and if there is no room they pay for a place in a boarding kennel), decide which dogs are suitable for adoption ( and so do child, cat and car test on the dogs), take photos of the of the dogs, maintain contact with AA (long-live e-mail!), arrange all the paperwork for transport with Turkish airlines, accompany the dogs to departure, and if necessary fly themselves so that a dog can go to Holland or Germany, if there are no tourists, etc, etc. What a job! In Turkey people, there own friends and family included find it strange that someone gives so much time to the care of strays. Although most Turks don’t care for dogs, some of them believe that the dogs are exported to Europe for vivisection, and harass Dorus and Tuana at the airport.
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Back to the shelter itself. Via kennel where a mother lay with her puppies we entered the cattery. Again no shortage of residents here. Sadly Holland already has too many cats, so the cats are only placed in Germany. The cattery is also handy for seeing how a dog reacts to cats.
How do Doruk and Tuana choose which dogs should have the chance of a new life in Holland and Germany? As far as Holland goes AAI gives them a free hand – the dogs they choose appear on the AAI website. It seems that smaller dogs are more popular than big ones, and further Doruk makes sure they are easy, friendly dogs. If the pacing is unsuccessful then AAI looks for another family for the dog and it is placed by a foster family in the meantime: the number if foster families in Holland in very limited. The German organisations on the other hand have several reception centres, but want to decide for themselves which dogs appear on their sites.
In another kennel were 9 puppies that had just been found. Doruk hadn’t been able to catch the mother as she was too shy. Further on a vet was treating a dog for mange by washing it with a special shampoo. There are three vets at the shelter, ad along with medical care they castrate the dogs, to break the vicious circle of more and more new arrivals.
The afternoon flew by, we could have stayed for hours looking a round. With it all still fresh in our minds we drove back to the city. It was so overwhelming, not because the dogs were in a bad way – they looked reasonably well cared for- but because of the numbers. So many terrific dogs – you want them all to have a loving home. It is such a pity that the Turks themselves hardly ever own a dog, never mind one from a shelter.
Two weeks later we were back in Istanbul: the holiday was over. That last evening we had a great meal out with Doruk and Tuana, with of course the dogs as the main topic of conversation. Hats off to these two young women. Doruk has a full time job, but has helped at the shelter for 6 years; Tuana is the mother of a toddler and has been helping for a couple of years. They bring dogs found on the street to the shelter, (and if there is no room they pay for a place in a boarding kennel), decide which dogs are suitable for adoption ( and so do child, cat and car test on the dogs), take photos of the of the dogs, maintain contact with AA (long-live e-mail!), arrange all the paperwork for transport with Turkish airlines, accompany the dogs to departure, and if necessary fly themselves so that a dog can go to Holland or Germany, if there are no tourists, etc, etc. What a job! In Turkey people, there own friends and family included find it strange that someone gives so much time to the care of strays. Although most Turks don’t care for dogs, some of them believe that the dogs are exported to Europe for vivisection, and harass Dorus and Tuana at the airport.
Read more