A lady called me in the morning; she said “There is a dog in the streets that have been tortured“. Our team went and found the dog and bought it to the shelter quickly. She is in a miserable position; her head, her legs, her stomach and her armpit have been marked with a hot iron. She’s been cut and she looks like a skeleton from starving. One of her legs is cut and most likely she was beaten up. We quickly gave her antibiotics and vitamins, we have dressed her wounds. I was shocked when I saw her, it’s obvious how much she was beaten up and scarred from her looks. The animal lover lady whom called me made a research on her and she told me that some people have bought her into a storeroom and tortured her. She was the dog of the neighborhood….

She was both tortured and starved, can it get worse? Death would have been freedom for her, but now she’s better. Lately the amount of tortured dogs increased a lot, sick so called human beings mistreat animals. Maybe they always existed, we just didn’t realize it. They torture everyone from animals to humans. Her ambition to live saved her.

Paris was taken by our teams 3 years ago on a snowy and frosty winter day upon a notice. She was in a terrible condition. People living in the area called the municipality and told us there was a dog tied to electricity stake for two days and she was shivering. Team went to the address and saw the dog and brought it to the shelter. We named her as Paris and she was adorable. She got pneumonia because she was left in the cold and got better after long treatments and became one of the mascots of the shelter.

Yes, the mascots of Yedikule Sally and Paris were non-separable friends. They played together in their houses and occasionally do dog fight but they were gently playing.

That’s normal right?

One of the friends had a adopter, so they had to be separated, but these are nice separations.

Our mission is to place the residents of Yedikule to permanent homes that they would be taken care of until their death and to provide a comfortable and happy life until they find that home.  What else we can do? We just want them to have happy homes.

There were many people who want to own Paris. I was hesitated, because I thought that Paris was a pure dogo and insisted on that owning her was forbidden by the law. But, her current mother fell in love with Paris three months ago and she proved me Paris was a hybrid dog with the documents. Love can do anything, mother Hazal went to Faculty and worked really hard to get the report from the commission about the race determination by showing the photographs. I appreciated mother Hazal and trusted her. Paris found a home and it was a really nice home for her. She is now being care of like a baby, she is loved and she is very happy, she has friends and plays games.

I hope her friends in Yedikule will be as lucky as her and find a determinate owner who will love them.
I hope firstly Sally and other will find good homes.
Thanks mother Hazal for sending the news about Paris and show your happiness with photographs.

Messi- or Roky in our shelter- was found wandering in a puzzled look in Fatih Fevzi Pasa avenue three months ago and brought to our shelter by our team. He had a laundry rope in his neck. When taking him out to the car, he ran away, we didn’t know what we could do, we ran afterward but couldn’t catch him. Bayram from our team drove after him and found him on Samatya fishermen’s place 3 kilometers away. We were happy at last, I would be very sorry if he was not found.  I immediately took him to office and give her food and water, a friend of the person who made the notice told that he wanted to take the dog and he arrived to office. We gave him the dog but dog was not adapted to that home and ran away again and was found by advertisements. The dog was returned to our shelter because of the possibility of escape again.  I tried to communicate with him in office and took his photo. I thought it was early to look for a home for him. Sunday morning a family (Tahsin and his wife) came to our shelter for finding a doggie friend. He already had made the application. We talked and I understood what they wanted, I showed them Roky, he was hiding under the sofa and he was afraid.  They liked him very much and we finalized the owning process and they went to their homes happily. Thanks to them, they sent me the photos of Messi to make me feel comfortable. I appreciate them.

A family from Denmark came to visit Turkey, cancelled their tour in Sultanahmet when they saw a injured doggie. We had sent the dog to the emergency clinic and surgery was performed. Family went back to their country, but they informed us all times and asked about the condition of the dog. At last, they arrived from Denmark to Turkey to own the dog as soon as she got better.

They named her as Aya Sofia. Firstly they made a tour in Sultanahmet- the place they met Aya- then they went to Alanya for vacation. They owned Aya as their second dog. Aya will stay in Alanya until the procedures will be finalized and then she will go to her home at Denmark. At first, I hesitated, because they were living in another country. However when I met the family and saw the sacrifices they did for Aya I felt more comfortable and agreed. The letter from Aya’s family.

“Thank you for our experience in Istanbul. It was excellent to work with you. Everything is fine. Aya was fine in the plane and wasn’t afraid to go into box. When she arrived to our apartment we washed her and she went to sleep. She will come to Denmark within 3 months. She felt like at home in a few days and barked everyone who came close to her. She liked riding in car and sat at the back seat by herself. In Alanya, it is 28 degrees and she loves to sleep on the marble. She attracted attention on herself and everybody love her. In Alanya, we had many experienced for 14 days.

We found a good dog sitter for her, she was looking for 20 dogs and she will take care her until February, she come to Denmark. They said she is a very good dog sitter.”

Lots of love,
Lena and Torben