Turkey has known to be compassionate towards stray animals compared to other countries where homeless dogs and cats are totally neglected and seen as a huge plague to eradicate but sometimes reality is not exactly what it seems to be.

In the forests nearby Istanbul, there are approximately 4000 dogs that live free and need to be fed and treated with medical care, as many of them have scabies or are affected by other infections. Despite local administrations should carry on a CNVR (capture-neuter-vaccination-release) programme for all strays who live on the territory, just a small percentage of them have ear tags, are properly neutered/spayed and have been vaccinated against rabies.

All these dogs are left alone to survive in the forests. Life in the deep forest is tough even for a stray. Sometimes because of the extreme hunger due to the lack of food, these dogs arrive at the point to fiercely attack each other or eat puppies in order to survive.

Volunteers of our new OIPA delegation in Turkey feed 500 of the 4000 dogs in Kurtkoy forest using their own resources and with no help from local institutions. They go to feed strays at least 4 times a week no matter which weather conditions and when there are puppies around they go on site every day as without their help it would be very difficult for these babies to survive with other adult dogs starving, no shelter, no food and bad weather conditions especially on winter.

OIPA Turkey does its best to buy for them dry food but when there are not enough money volunteers cook at home some pasta, sausages and meat and collect old bread to alleviate dogs’ hunger.

There are feeding stations in the forests but they are exposed to bad weather conditions (rain, snow, heat) so food get spoiled easily if left there for many days.

The stray population of dogs is out of control as the rate of abandonment is high and many people is used to get rid of its pet leaving the animal in the forest. In addition, there is a lack of spay/neuter activities done by local institutions and some municipalities are used to catch dogs and transfer them from residential areas into the forests, reason why the number of homeless dogs grows increasingly.

Many of these stray dogs are injured, for every 4 dogs there is one with injured leg: injury due mainly to car accidents or fights. Others have scabies or other diseases and infections.

All these homeless animals are extremely weak and would need medical treatments, surgeries and specific care, but volunteers can’t provide treatments and foster them all. Most of the time, because of lack of resources, they have to choose who to save as they are left completely alone by local administrations to face costs and expenses.

Every month volunteers take a dog to the vet and, in order to recover the animal from treatment or surgery, they then bring him to a hostel (in cage) for at least a week. They usually choose the one in worst condition, but mother with puppies have always priority.

The aim of OIPA Turkey is to protect strays in every meaning, as laws are weak and improvements on regulations still under process.

Our delegation needs help to cover the costs of food, sterilizations, surgeries, medical treatments, medicines, anti parasites and vaccinations of the stray dogs they take care of.

All donations will be used to guarantee a respectable life to all these homeless dogs.

Fundrasier for this cause is closed but

You can buy food here:

👉 https://www.ormanamama.com/kurtkoy-dilsiz-patileri

👉 https://www.candostlarim.com/destek/kurtkoy-dilsiz-patiler