Update 3 April:

5 months passed… Bonita went through a very difficult  treatment. She nearly didn’t make it but her will to live was stronger than any virus. Bonita won the battle against distemper and survived.

She stayed with her foster, Yelda, for close to four months until the day she flew to her new home in Dusseldorf.

Bonita has now two families, one in Istanbul and one in Germany. She will never be alone again.

—-

I’m sure Yelda has had better pictures taken, but I doubt any of them will be as memorable as this one.

This is how a true Let’s Adopt! foster home looks.

This is the worried face of someone that truly cares for an animal that is not even hers.

Because we don’t have a shelter and we operate globally this group biggest challenge is not to find good homes but to find good fosters.

Whilst we have many incredible people in our foster list we have had some of the biggest disappointments imaginable.

Seeing the way Yelda cared for Bonita today made us forget the tragedy of the situation.

Here is to you Yelda, and to our incredible foster homes,.

Without you we are nothing…

Let’s Adopt! is presenting Turkish Airlines with the World’s Worst Airline for Pets Award.

It’s a traveler’s nightmare, moving to another city with your pet, arriving to the Turkish Airlines Check-in desk at the airport and being forced to make an impossible choice: Board the plane but leave your beloved family pet behind.

That Turkish Airlines is not particularly fond of animals doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

Four years ago Turkish Airlines shocked the world when some of its employees sacrificed a camel at Istanbul Ataturk Airport to celebrate their job done.

The animal was killed, quartered and the bloody pieces of meat distributed amongst workers.

You would have thought a member of the Star Alliance would have learned its lesson but no… For the last year we have been receiving an astonishing number of emails from angry passengers informing us that the reservations of their animals were cancelled at the very last minute.

Complaints were put forward but no action was taken.

Let’s Adopt! has tried for the last year to improve the procedures of the airline but all efforts have been in vain. Dog reservations are being cancelled across the board.

Today we were told that Temel Kotil, president and CEO of the Turkish Airlines , was not available for comment, but instead H. Ilyas Demirbek from THY Ground Services left the following comments in our Facebook Page: We give priority to humans. Animals are ENEMY to Turks.

Bearing in mind that Ground Services is in charge of handling animal passengers I guess there is little else to say (!!!)

Next time you fly to Turkey, look at your dog and think of having to leave him behind. We encourage all passengers flying in and out of Turkey to make alternative arrangements until the situation at Turkish Airlines is normalized.

Let’s Adopt! recommends the services of Iberia, Air France and Lufthansa for Europe bound flights.

Have you got any bad experience in the way Turkish Airlines has handled your animals? Tell us, leave a comment here…

Viktor

His name is Clyde and he is one of the Let’s Adopt! rescues.
Today, he was supposed to be playing in the garden of his beautiful new home in Pittsburgh, instead, and due to an unforgivable succession of bad decisions he is somewhere in the streets of Istanbul, running for
his life, completely and absolutely terrified.
As always, at the bottom of this tragedy we find the same culprit. Irresponsibility.
I cannot do much else other than accepting that, as creator of Let’s Adopt! I am the person ultimate responsible for his fate, if Clyde is never found or dies it will, be my fault for creating this network.

Clyde, Puppy lost in Istanbul

But this is no time for self-pity.

We need to find Clyde and get him to his home safely. But to do this I need you all to internalize the situation. I need you all to think Clyde is your own dog, the dog you know so well and you love so much. I need you to imagine your dog running desperately in the unforgiving streets of Istanbul. Trying to avoid the fast traffic, cars and buses, and having to look behind his back for cruel people that throw stones and chase him away… or for those who will want to injure him, stab him, kick him to death… rape him.

Clyde is brown, has a white patch on his chest, legs and tail. He disappeared on Saturday from Macka Park, Nisantasi and we suspect he may be around the area. But he could be just about anywhere, Besiktas, Taksim…

I need you to give a careful look at these images and video and take note of this number: 0536 8199970

He knows his name: Clyde. If you see him approach him calmly talking to him, and call us.

Help us find Clyde. Take note of this number 0536 8199970 and call us if you see him.

please share …

Viktor

Last week Turkey was shocked by  the gruesome murder of a little stray cat in Bornova, Izmir. His name was Yamuk.

Yamuk’s death was brutal,  painful in its randomness and, unlike the deaths of so many, it became public, for anyone to see. The killer Ufuk Gunaydin, was arrested and released after  paying a fine of 657 Turkish Liras (close to 450 American Dollars).

This event brought memories of another murder, one that took place over a year ago, in Istanbul, the killing of Ebru, the dog of the Marmara Hotel. In that ocassion there were no cameras to film the horrific actions, but the result was the same, a helpless animal dying in pain and reminding each and everyone of us that there are killers amongst us.

Turkish society has finally awaken to the bitter reality of animal cruelty, and stands united in condemnation, in demand for stronger laws to punish animal cruelty.

The media is finally listening, and the legislator in Ankara has got the message. The current state of affairs is not to be tolerated any longer.

The problem is, laws must apply to everyone. As of today, the biggest perpetrator of animal cruelty in this country are the municipalities themselves. Rogue Mayors all across the nation coninue to ignore the Law and continue organising poisoning campaigns. In most cities, starting by Istanbul, animal shelters are nothing but massive concentration camps for dogs run by municipalities and shelter managers who seem to be there for nothing but releasing their sadistic impulses.

It is time for the Mayors of this country to understand that the situation of the animals in their cities is not just a problem to manage, it is one of the most evident and obvious signs of their failures or success as leaders of the society.

So far most of them, starting by Kadir Topbas, the Mayor of Istanbul Greater Municipality are failing miserably.

Turkey has one of the world’s most progressive Animal Rights Laws. The entire country is No-Kill, something that places us at the level of Germany. The demonstration of Saturday in Istanbul, the biggest show of support this country has ever seen  shows that Turkey is ready for change.

Today I am filled with the hope that maybe, just maybe, one day Turkey will be regarded as a place where animals are treated with respect and compassion, and Mayors across the nation will understand that society holds them accountable.

Ghandi wrote: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. I am sure each and every attendant to the demonstration yesterday will agree with me that, by those standards Turkey is still near the bottom of the ladder.

Change is at the reach of this generation, we are in the right path but we must all get to work.

For the animals

Viktor Larkhill

Every puppy is cute
Every puppy is unique.
Some puppys, however, have something that makes them different.
This is Mia. She is deaf.
Deaf dogs present special challenges, they require patience and a deep understanding of dog psichology and of the way dogs see and understand the world.
On the other hand, because of that handicapped deaf dogs, like blind ones, tend to develop an ever stronger bond with their owners.

We are looking for a very special home for Mia.

Conditions for adoption:

1. MUST have at least one other animal, preferably deaf.
2. Mia will have a family life.
3. Mia will be fed a raw diet (www.rawfed.com)

Contact: viktor@myletsadopt.com

Pls Share this album and join us at Let’s Adopt: The Core

As most of you may have noticed, Facebook has been acting quite erratically lately. Some of our posts were banned as abusive, my FB account was cancelled, etc..

This is why we have been thinking about the best way to distribute our posts and our blog without being at the merci of the Facebook software. How to maximize our reach and reduce our dependency of Facebook.

Facebook is a tool for us, we are trying to find the best way to use it, not to depend on it.

From today our Facebook Groups will only be used to distribute announcements about our most urgent rescue cases.

Our Blogs will of course will continue fonctioning, but we will be using them to deliver exclusive content not available on Facebook. This content will be delivered by email and you will of course be able to share it on FB if you wish.

Why are we doing this? Because, simply put, we want to be able to reach our Core network at all times. As things are right now we are at the mercy of the Facebook software.

This is, in a way, a move to gain control of our crowd and our networks.

Come on, admit it, you love us!!!

Sign up to this blog for exclusive content… you won’t be dissapointed. For the technologically impaired, see that square on the top right side of the blog? There!

Love to all,  see you on email!

Viktor