Thirteen Lives

Dear friends…

Over the last year we have been focussing our efforts on three basic areas:

Rehoming
Education
Exposing the animal massacres in Istanbul and other municipalities

Those who have been working with us since our inception last year know exactly what we do and how we do it.

Last week we undertook our first fundraising effort, to cover the multiple operations of Felix the cat. We were pleased to report this was a great success…

Normally we encourage our members to take responsibility for their own rescues and, if possible, we assist them in their rehoming efforts, but yesterday we received an email that will be taking us to a whole new level of engagement.

One of our members, Huma, paid a visit last weekend to the infamous Hasdal Municipality Shelter in Kemerburgaz. What she witnessed there left her in a state of shock. A couple of dozen puppies, most of them affected by distemper and other diseases, were struggling to keep standing under wind and the rain. On her way home she cried tears of impotence at the callousness and cruelty of the shelter employees who were treating the pups like garbage..

The next morning she woke up early and drove back to the Hasdal shelter. She then proceeded to go around the cages selecting those puppies who were in worst condition, a total of 13 pups.

Thirteen Lives.

Some of you are rescuers. Some of you have been courageous and generous enough to rescue a dog from near death, nurse him back to health and adopt him. Others have found him a loving family. But I’m 100 % sure none of you has rescued Thirteen Lives in an instant. Our friend did. It was done in an impulse.

She loaded the thirteen pups in her car and took them to her vet. Only that evening it dawned on her the enormity of her action and the difficulties she would have to deal with until the pups are healthy and placed in a loving home. At that point she wrote to Let’s Adopt.

Upon reading her letter our first reaction was one of shock and disbelief. This was a mission far too large for us to handle. So, initially we sent her a polite reply offering our help with rehoming at a later stage. She kindly thanked us for our offer.

The following hours we could not stop thinking about Huma and her thirteen puppies. How will she handle this? She is a student and her finances are tight. Those pups are going to require medical attention for the coming weeks, Huma will then have to find them foster or final homes and this won’t be easy.
You cannot imagine how difficult it is to find good homes for mix breed dogs in Turkey. It really is a nearly impossible task. We are terribly sorry to have to say this but this country is not ready yet. Too many people consider dogs a status symbol and to them a stray is not a dog, its a nuisance. In the best of cases the dog will be tolerated, in the worst shot, poisoned, tortured… We have seen it all.
At first, her close circle of family and friends will try to help but this help won’t last for long.

So… we wrote Huma and offered our help and support..

This is what we are going to do:

1. The pups are in desperate need of medical attention. Right now they are at a veterinary clinic in Istanbul. We need to raise funds to cover part or most of those expenses. As we were in the case of Felix, we are confident we will be able to count on the generosity of our members. Any donation, large of small will help. Please contact me on v.larkhill@googlemail.com and I will explain you how to proceed.

For those who live abroad we are in the process of setting up a system to handle international donations. Please contact us and we’ll explain you how. Needless to say you will be kept informed on constant basis about the evolution of the pups.

You can further follow their progress on www.letsadopt.wordpress.com .

2. As the pups’ health improve, we are going to need foster and final families for them. We are going to need both, urgently. Once again we are asking for your help here. If you have the slight possibility to adopt or foster one of these puppies please get in touch with me on v.larkhill@googlemail.com with your details and telephone number and one of us will get in touch with you.

This is our largest project to date. We have rehomed hundreds of animals but always on an individual basis… This is a whole new level.

Wish us luck and please, if you can, help.

Best

V
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18031&id=1314867706&l=6bd5f

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Update February 19

It has been 4 days since Huma rescued the 13 sick puppies from Hasdal. She did pick up the sickest ones of the tens of puppies agonizing at that killing station run by the Istanbul Municipality. The battle has been fierce and whilst some are progressively improving 7 of them gave up and crossed the Heaven’s Gates. Huma named them all so that she can call them and find them when the time comes… We are now trying to keep our last six from slipping away.

Dear friends,

Quick note to inform you that due to basic disagreements with the veterinary that has handled the 13 pups Let’s Adopt won’t be involved in this operation any longer.

10 out of the 13 pups died. This was a very difficult mission from the beginning and we praised the rescuer to no end, but we believe there has been clear negligence in the puppy’s veterinary care.

Needless to say though that the last 3 puppies still need loving homes; foster or final. Please do contact us for information.

Only two of our members wrote to us and offered their help. I would kindly ask them to get in touch with us if they want their donations returned or let us know if they are happy with those funds being used for another emergency in the future.

Kind regards

V