No more smoking dogs

Principles only mean something when you stick to them when its inconvenient.

Laine Hanson.

Smoking kills.

Tobacco use contributes to more than half a million deaths in the United States annually, many of which are from cancer. From lung cancer to cancer of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, and pancreas, tobacco can play a part in all of them. Cigarette smoking is responsible for 87 percent of all lung cancer cases annually in the United States.
The National Cancer Institute is also clear on Second Hand Smoking:

- Secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke, involuntary smoke, and passive smoke) is the smoke given off by a burning tobacco product and the smoke exhaled by a smoker
- More than 50 chemicals in secondhand smoke are known to cause cancer
- Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmokers.
- Secondhand smoke has also been associated with heart disease in adults and sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, and asthma attacks in children
- There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke

Hold on a second.. this is a dog blog!.. why are we talking Tobacco here?

Here is why… because yesterday I came to realize something… in our adoption requirements we had not mentioned the Tobacco issue. Why? a simple ommission, we never feel it was necessary. We are correcting this omission now.

Every Let’s Adopt! rescue will go to a non-smoking family.

I’m aware this decision will infuriate, but before you start throwing knifes at me please stop, reflect and take a deep breath (if you can ).

I’m also aware that this decision will be deeply impopular in a country, Turkey, with one of the highest populations of smokers in the world . I assure you we don’t enjoy making things more difficult to ourselves, but when it comes to the life of our animals this is a group that doesn’t compromise, and many love us for it.

Each and every single one of our decisions are taken with one goal only, the saveguard of the life of our animals. Much in the same way Child adoption agencies will not give in adoption a human child to smoking families we feel we must not put the health of our animals at risk by agreeing on a lifetime exposure to second hand smoking.

Due to the temporary nature of fostering this condition will not apply to our foster homes (or the ocasional joint smoker). It won’t also apply to our previous adoptions, although we hope this post will make them reconsider their smoking habits, if not for them, for the health of their animals.

Let’s Adopt! is No Kill, none of our rescues is at any kind of risk for not having found a family. If any smoking family wishes to adopt an animal please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will personally direct you to your nearest Municipal Shelter where you will be able to save a life in inmediate danger.

Kind regards

Viktor Larkhill

P.S. Two of my family members have suffered the effects of lung cancer. I loved them both dearly. They are both dead now.

Nov
17

The tragedy of Turkish Kangals

This WAS one of the worlds most magnificient and noble dogs. He was an anatolian shepherd, also known as kangal.

We named him Aslan.

Aslan lived his life as a factory dog. Born as as purebreed, bought by an uneducated brute who felt having a big dog would make him look more manly in front of society.

Aslan was found under a truck in the factory. He had been tied to it and they forgot about him. By the time we got there he was completely dehydrated and thin as a paper. We did our best to make him regain health. He spent the last month of his life at our vet in intensive care. There was nothing we could do. His organs failed one by one.

This is the way most kangals end in this country. Abused, neglected, completely and absolutely distroyed, and guess what? We cannot rescue
them.

By Law you are not allowed to get Turkish Kangals out of Turkey. If we find a kangal in this state there is nothing we can do as most families that want one won’t consider having them inside their homes.

The only way to keep a kangal in the collective mind of the turkish nation is heavily chained to a tree or a piece of machinery.

You can buy them, you can cut their ears, mark them like cattle, you can tie them to a post and make them spend the rest of their lifes on a diet of bread and water, but you cannot send them to a decent home abroad and very few turkish homes are able to provide them with a minimum human standard of existance.

Kangals have become a source of shame for Turkey, not by the breed qualities ( they are unbelieveble dogs ) but by the absolutely despicable way they are treated by just about everybody here.

We have NEVER rejected a rescue because it was too complicated but I must admit that with Kangals has become specially difficult.

I hope one day Turkey will start looking at just about everything from the angle of nationalism and animals like Aslan will be able to have decent and happy lifes, whenever in the world this may be. In the meantime they will continue their sad existance under the brutal mentality and the hammer of their masters.