Forget the majestic mosques and bustling bazaars. Over the centuries, one of the things that has most consistently captured the imagination of foreign travelers to Istanbul has been … the street dogs and cats.
“The dogs sleep in the streets, all over the city. … They would not move, though the Sultan himself passed by,” Mark Twain wrote in 1867.
Amply documented in both 19th century lithographs and 21st century viral videos, Istanbul’s street dogs and cats can today be found patiently waiting to cross at green lights, hitching ferry rides across the Bosporus, marching with protesters and lapping up leftovers and attention outside sidewalk cafes.
Turkey has a no-kill, no-capture policy towards all its stray animals. However, they’re still vulnerable and in need of a lot of help. We’ve carefully chosen a one-person army Özgül who shelters around 40 dogs and neutures / feeds and take care of many other stray dogs and cats. We neuture 2 dogs every month and we provide food for 2 dogs through her as a part of our corporate social responsibility policy.
We’ve chosen an individual like her (instead of an organisation) because we wanted to make sure that every single cent we send is used completely for the animals, not for salaries, rent, or other admin stuff.
If you’d like to contribute to her efforts too, please feel free to make a donation.
