Dear Friends,
This morning Alexander and Tiny have left Turkey towards their new homes in Belgium.
I want you to look at their pictures and understand that the only reason why we have to send amazing animals like them to Europe is because here in Turkey NOBODY WANTS THEM.
This is one of those sad facts of life that we have come to accept. The only thing we can do is to continue doing our very best to lead and inspire our community of animal rescuers and hope that they will, in turn, spread the word about adoption, about animal rescue, about Let’s Adopt!, about being a decent human being.
Maybe we are hoping too much, who knows.
Today we have saved two more lives.
Saving animals has a cost though… Today I’m going to tell you about the cost, in complete detail, of saving Alexander and Tiny… ready? here we go…
Alexander:
80 days pension cost x 20 = 1600 TL
Vaccinations = 80 TL
neutering operation = 250 TL
Blood test + Microchip = 120 TL
Flight from Izmir to Istanbul= 220 TL
Excess fare airline = 320 Euro
Tiny:
40 days pension cost x 20= 800 TL
Veterinary treatment = 950 TL
Blood test + Microchip = 120 TL
Excess fare airline = 120 Euro
Total: 2503 Euros.
To this we must add 340 Euro of the plane ticket of our flight volunteer and we are not counting possible veterinary premier expenses that may be needed, like in the case of Coco or Umut.
Grand Total rescue Alexander and Tiny= 2.843 Euros / 3. 800 USD. That is 1.900 USD per animal.
(I bet you never imagined it to be so high…)
Let’s Adopt!, contrary to the vast majority of Animal Rescues DOES NOT APPLY A REHOMING FEE. NEVER. EVER.
The reason for not applying this fee is a “cultural one”. Here in Turkey some people’s mentality is twisted beyond recognition and they identify the concept on Adoption fee with dog selling. So… in order to avoid confusing those poor mentally ill people and to have to spend any time explaining them what we do we decided not to apply rehoming fees.
How do we finance our rescues? I tell you how.. with A LOT of effort, understanding and patience from our pensions, vets, etc.. The rest of the money comes either from our personal pockets and from contributions from our members to our Simba Fund.
So.. as today this is the cost of sending two animals to Europe from Europe: 3.800 USD or 1.900 USD per animal.
The cost of sending animals to the USA and Canada is much higher, and it depends on the size and weight of the animal.
This can be confirmed by the hundreds of people whose rescues we have saved and have contributed nothing. Or by the hundreds of families who have adopted our animals and who have NEVER paid a single cent in rehoming fee. Others, very few have helped us as much as they could, but those were the exceptions.
Now that you know all the details I would kindly request your assistance in contributing to the rescue of our last 10 Turkish rescues, currently waiting to be flown to Europe and the USA. Nobody wants those animals here, so we must send them to those families who will offer them a second chance in life.
Help us save these innocent lives, please contribute to the Simba Fund through our Chipin:
Kind regards
Viktor Larkhill
viktor@myletsadopt.com
believe it or not, i did know the cost would be that high…. i just recently paid 4000TL for a dog at the vet and he’s still there… another time my maid brought a sick kitten that she feeds in front of her house and her treatment s and shots was around 2000 TL… so saving lives really is costly… both financially and emotionally…
I would contribute to Let’s Adopt, if I had any money left after paying vet bills and such for our own rescues here in Canada. Just this morning I took a lame dog to the vet for medications to ease his pain. We pay all of those bills out of our own pocket. It is difficult to get contributions to help out. As a result my husband and I have not taken a vacation in six years. Even after our wedding we did not have a honeymoon, instead we put the money into saving a senior Jack Russel and getting her the medical help she needed. When she was rehomed after her recovery, her new family knew nothing of the almost sixteen hundred dollars we had spent to give them a healthy happy pet. At eleven years of age she was still unfixed, and four teeth were so rotten she could not eat properly, and had a nasty disposition. Once the teeth were pulled (an expensive endeavor here in Canada) ahe became the sweetest cuddliest little dog imaginable. We sent her to her new home free of charge and with a huge box of toys and bedding. Sure we could have done other things with the money, but we saved a life, and that is more important than anything else we could have done.
Were I not hands on in rescue, I would feel it my duty to regularily donate to Let’s Adopt. As it stands I am willing to help out in any way that I can, and should I win the lottery or come into an inheritance, then I will be sure to donate a large sum to Let’s Adopt in order to see their good work continue.
I can’t understand how people who adopt these turkish dogs don’t pay a cent!
They imagine all is free in this country? just for feeding, vaccinations….we pay when we have an animal! And if you don’t ask a payment for them, they must propose you to help!
In France, when we adopt an animal ,we pay to the SPA for vaccination, indentification…
because an animal is not an object! and all along of this life, feedind and care have a cost!
i will never understand human being…..
Inside, you are a beautiful person, Viktor. TOTAL RESPECT!
Dear Corine,
They don’t pay because this is not a commercial transaction. We are a rescue group, if we were expecting payment we would not be doing what we do, we would be selling T-shirs and other goods.
The fact that other rescue groups act one way doesn’t necessarily mean we are about to follow that route… actually, most likely it means we will be doing things in a completely different way…
We are VERY different. We dont have a single professional stuff, we dont pay a cent in salaries (like most organizations do), we are run exclusively by volonteers, 0% administration costs, everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING goes to our animals.
Million thanks.. glad to have you with us.
Dear Viktor and all your helpers,
Thank you for bring ing the global perspective into view. We are involved in rescue work in the US and it is true, how quickly one’s resources can be drained. To spay and neuter would be such a positive impact on the numbers of pets in need. But something that has been troubling me in the endless search for solutions is the high cost of veterinary care and the pharmaceutical supplies to save and keep healthy these pets. I am somewhat sympathetic to veterinarians…they must make a living too. But in my own search for medication assistance for my foster pets, I find NO HELP AT ALL from the companies who are charging vets outrageous prices for meds, surgical packs, etc. That could make a huge difference is helping people keep pets healthy. Thank you for all you do!
Thanks Monica.. you are entirely right.. this is the reason why Let’s Adopt does not endorse or accept sponsorship from any pet food company.
As for the vets, let me tell you… we work with a small group of vets in Turkey that are absolutely unbelievable, at all levels..
The average is pretty low though…
Congratulations to the Let’s Adopt team! Soi Dog Foundation (Phuket, Thailand) has recently begun working with Let’s Adopt to help rehome neglected and abused dogs and cats from our shelter.
I have just donated to this appeal through the link (Chipin) in Viktor’s original post above.
I’ll toss out a challenge here: If anyone else wants to donate I will match your donation (dollar for dollar, euro to euro whatever) up to a total of $100. What does that mean? If you donate $10, your donation DOUBLES to $20. Let me know if you make a donation as a result of this post ( leonard@soidog.org and I will donate in kind.
Amazing offer Leonard… MANY thanks.
I’m now torn.. on one hand I hope everybody takes up the offer and this turns into a great success so that we can send our last 10 rescues currently at pensions..
on the other hand I hope nobody claims it as you are already doing so much for your own group.
Anyway.. fingers crossed.. glad to have you on the team.
Note that email address is leonard@soidog.org Sorry for the typo.
Hello Viktor,
do you not get some payment from the new owner ?? As I know all animal shelters or animal protection organisations asking for round about € 250,- till € 280,- for one dog!
Best regards,
Rosemarie
Dear Rosemary… no.. never. We don’t apply Adoption Fees.
It’s a matter of principle.
Families can contribute to the rescue if they want but it is by no means a condition.
All our rescues are financed by our members in the same its explain in the post.
Let’s Adopt! is a different group, the fact that others levy a fee doesn’t mean will ever follow their route.. 🙂
As soon as I saw Victor’s original appeal, I donated $100. If everyone would just chip in even $10, we could have these guys heading home. I personally could not adopt another friend at this time but I can help financially. As for those adopting not paying, first of all, they do have a lifetime of expenses ahead of them and that is committment. Also Victor help us get our Ephi home here in the States and we did pay for her costs. These are people working overtime and the need is great. Let’s do it!
Thanks Paula…
As I said, you are one of the few exceptions.
You needed help, we helped you. You have remained a friend and supporter.
This is the way genuine people react and get involved…
WOW!!! I Never Realized That It Cost That Much To Save A Life!!!
Like the song says “If I Were A Rich Man”, I would spend ALL of my money saving as many lives as i can!!!
Chipped in a bit, only wish it could be more. Keep up the great work guys. Shared with love from the UK ♥♥♥
Thanks Jayne.. very appreciated.. xxx
Chipped in a bit, only wish it could be more. Keep up the great work guys. Shared with love from the UK ♥♥♥
I know the cost, I do the same here in Portugal but we try to rehoming them here in Portugal and in most of the cases we have families. But the expensives are payed with our money and the people that really care and wants to participate, but what we really are in need is foster families, that’s the most dificult to find.
poeple who will be surprise by those figure have no idea about real life…. they should know that nothing NOTHING coming free….. there is always price to pay…. I am not surprise, I though could be more than 1000e…. and it is…. I can only imagine how hard and stressful must be to keep your actions rolling but you are amazing people!!!! love you lots! warm greetings from Italy!!!!
It’s a lot of money, but the end justifies the means…. congratulations to Belgium!
I think that the people and organisations that commit their lives to saving those with no voices are commendable and selfless and I wish formany more people like that.
Would like to chip in but its all in german!!! Don’t understand a thing…
Donated 100$ and shared.
Many thanks Tajna… very appreciated… thank you…
This is going to be a very very busy week, wait, you’ll see..
Viktor, also you have to add the cost of the crate to transport the animal.
I know the price of that , I did it once with one rescue (abandoned) dog. ( I send from Turkey to Spain).