The challenge for stray animals in Turkey

Turkey is densely populated with stray animals. Everyday thousands of puppies and kittens are sold in the pet-shops and most of them found themselves abandoned on the streets within a couple of months in miserable conditions, all breeds and age, these pets are starved to death, got run over by a car and beaten or poisoned by people. In fact, it is not limited to puppies and kittens but also it is not uncommon for non-stray adult dogs and cats finding them on the street. Unlike many developed countries, Turkey does not have a centralised system of animal control nor a law on animal rights imposing penal sanctions. That’s why the number of strays in Turkey is increasing drastically due to lack of castration. In addition, perpetrators of physical and sexual violence against animals usually get away with it without being subject to persecution. Last but not least, finding food and shelter remains a great challenge for stray animals whether in big cities or in small towns.

Shelters in Turkey

Local governments are responsible for the stray cats and dogs living in their administrative division: they have to spay and neuter them, vaccinate them against rabies, and tag them. However, the majority fails to perform such duties due to the lack of necessary medical equipment and insufficient human resource. In addition, not all municipalities have facilities tailored and designed for stray animals. Most of them have shelters but they are nothing short of death camps. To control the stray animal population, municipalities use cruel and inhuman ways, euthanizing, poisoning healthy animals or abandoning them in the middle of nowhere where they cannot find any food, instead of spaying. All in all, shelters in Turkey are not 5 star hotels for them. On the contrary, nothing more than dead camps

How you can help?

‘Bir pati de sen tut’ is a legal registered animal rescue non-profit charity. That’s why we need your valuable help so we can rescue more animals and impact their lives. All of the pets rescued are seen by a veterinarian to have all their vetting needs taken care of and are then placed in a pet hotel or a foster home if we are lucky and find one. We need mostly monetary donations in any amount and of course cat and dog foods are the second most important need for us. Apart from this, we are looking for foster homes domestically in Turkey and in the countries where our dogs and cats are adopted. We have a long wish list on our 'Help Us' page if you want to take a look at it.