To love an animal is to want THE BEST for him… with or without you.

Internet in general and Facebook in particular has completely changed animal welfare is conducted.

By now most associations and non-profits have realized the immense power of Facebook as outreach and advocacy building tool. Those rescues that haven’t built a Facebook platform should do that, quickly!

But how to use Facebook for something as risky and delicate as finding a forever home to an animal?, in most cases being that home overseas or in another location, thus making a home visit nearly impossible. Today you are going to understand what the entire thought process is behind every single adoption case in Let’s Adopt!. Our system may or may not be to everyone’s liking, but they work wonders for our animals.

1. Our Adoption Rules:

Those are the first selection hurdle.. they are designed to identify what we consider optimum homes. The rules are there with only the interest of the animal in mind, and are designed to simplify to the maximum the task of guessing if someone is going to be a good owner for our rescues or not.

a) Adoptant MUST have an animal right now. Because we are virtual based and most of our adoptions are international we need to minimize the chances of return. The best way to see if someone is a good animal owner is by looking, not at his past track record or animal experience, but at his PRESENT animals. It usually takes just a glimpse into someone’s Facebook profile and the albums of his animals to see the kind of life those animals have. If the animals are happy and well kept chances are our animal will have the same life.

2) Animal must live inside the home, with the family… no yard dogs, no garden animals, no security jobs, no service dogs. All our animals will have a family life. No exceptions.

3) Animal must be fed a RAW diet. We covered this issue HERE.

4) Our rescues go only to Non-Smoking families. We gave the entire rationale for this rule here.

2. The bedroom test..

Have you ever been in someone’s bedroom or office when the person is not there? Usually with a quick look around the house you can tell a lot about a person’s character without the need to engage in lengthy conversations. We use Facebook in a similar way… By looking at someone’s profile we can see if the person has a social life or if he is a lone introvert, we can appreciate his education level, we can see if he has a good family life, we can gauge his tastes, his commitments to certain causes, his views on a wide range of issues, music, food, health, we can see someone’s priorities and asses if our animal is going to be one of them… Basically, used correctly, Facebook provides us a deep insight into people’s personality.

After that we just ask ourselves a question: Do we Like what we see? If we do, we approve the adoption. If we don’t.. we pass…

The decision we take now will affect the next 10 or 15 years of the life of our animals. Ours are not decisions looking at the short but at the long term.

It’s our obligation to get it right… We owe it to them.

14 th of February has been a celebration of romantic love since the middle ages… People have been giving each other paper hearts and cupid figurines for centuries. Many a lover has found himself in deep trouble for failing to honor this tradition.

2011: 67% of dog owners say they would rather kiss their dog than their spouses. 75% of dog owners say this year their dog is going to be their Valentine. 89% of dog owners think their dog loves them more than their spouse.

It is to those owners I’m sending this message today …

Let’s Adopt! Rescue and Rehoming efforts are 100% funded by our members. It is because of this little chip-in that doesn’t really function most of the time that we can do what we do, every day.

Please contribute to the Simba Fund today and tell your partner not to worry, you’ve got tonight…

Ismail Ay, the veterinarian at Kadir Topbaş Hasdal shelter was happy that day. None of the dogs he had neutered the day before had died on his operation table. A rare occasion considering that usually about 15 to 20 dogs a week die at Hasdal due to incorrect veterinary procedures.

Suddenly the volunteers alerted him that one of the females was experiencing massive lost of blood. Clearly annoyed, Ismail refused to move from his table to go help the animal that was quickly going into shock in the recovery cage. Instead he told the workers to bring the dog to him using their usual catch pole.

Blood was everywhere. The dog was too weak to even move or stand and was being dragged through the shelter floor. Volunteers tried to intervene but the workers stopped them saying: Don’t teach us what do to. This is how it’s done here!… The volunteers were pushed aside.

The dog died whilst being dragged from the neck on her way to Ismail. The tight rubber band around her neck increased the speed of the blood loss.

The total killing rate of Ismail Ay went up by one that morning… more would follow in the afternoon, and the next day… and the next.

20 dogs a week die at Kadir Topbaş Hasdal shelter due to incorrect veterinary procedures alone. To this you must add the thousands being abandoned deep in the forest by the Municipality team.

If this is not the work of the worst and cruelest vets in the world I really don’t know how to call it.

Call / write to Muhsin Dogan, the First secretary of Kadir Topbaş and tell him the world is looking at this in disgust.

Muhsin Dogan: +90 (0212) 455 14 00
Email: muhsin.dogan@ibb.gov.tr

WE NEED YOU, THE ANIMALS OF TURKEY NEED YOU TO COME TO BATTLE WITH US….
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As expected PETA inmediately wrote a letter of rejection to the Istanbul Municipality… It’s in Turkish so that it can be understood by the barely literate Municipal team. In this letter PETA basically tells them  off and asks them to retract their previous communication and never use their name again in an attempt to justify the crimes committed in Istanbul.

That’s very nice… but… will PETA do anything else?  No... they won’t even publicize this letter in their own site as they feel they shouldn’t justify themselves. Imagine how much attention could they bring into Kadir Topbas mismanagement of the Neuter and Return program in Istanbul… but of course, they won’t do that.

Exactly as expected.. a lame ass response from PETA, the champion of the animals. Bravo!…  I’m rushing to donate to PETA today…

Today Kadir Topbas team at the Istanbul Municipality Veterinary Department has issued an (unsigned) document giving their version of the scandal.

I would like you to read it carefully and slowly, it’s absolutely priceless… Please after you read it leave Mr. Topbas a comment… Are you ready? here it goes…

Mr./Ms. …

The pictures and videos of stray dogs taken at the Hasdal Animal Shelter were taken by some volunteers who have been working in our shelter for one (1) year. They are malicious and all this is part of a plan of some animal organizations. These images have been distributed on internet.

However, some of the photos and videos were shot during the times when the dogs were under anesthesia and at the times of their awakening from it so they show the physiologic reflexes of the animals. Some images are nothing but the sick or wounded dogs brought to our shelter when they are wounded, bleeding or critically sick. These images were taken on purpose and mean nothing but pictures and videos taken at such times.

All the rehabilitation practices that the Istanbul Municipality is and has been doing under the 5199 Animal Protection Law and Regulation of Practice for the well-being and welfare of the stray animals are known by all animal organizations in Turkey, non-governmental organizations, related professional chambers and by international organizations such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) (!!!!!!!!!)

The stray animals collected in our Eyüp-Hasdal and Tuzla-Aydınlı shelters –administered to the Istanbul Municipality, the Department of Health and Social Services, the Office of Veterinary- which have the capacity to temporarily host 750 animals, are registered digitally with microchips after being vaccinated, neutered, treated, cared, fed and rehomed under the 5199 Animal Protection Law and Regulation of Practice.

The animals who could not have been rehomed are returned to the places where they were taken (!!!!)

In this context, between the years of 2004-2010, 50 thousand 392 vaccinations, 52 thousand 320 examinations and treatments, 34 thousand 624 neutering operations and 3 thousand 595 rehomings were made.
Only in 2010, 1738 control and complaints were taken into consideration for the well-being and welfare of the animals.

As Istanbul Municipality, we set up Vetistanbul Animal Registration Program (vetistanbul.ibb.gov.tr). With Vetistanbul program, both stray animals and animals with owners are registered with microchips and with this, all practices such as the vaccinations, treatments, neutering operations and rehomings can be monitored retrospectively if necessary.

This program has been set up in all provential municipalities, veterinary clinics and to the pet shops. Flyers have been distributed to notify the public about this practice.

In addition to all this, in order to provide a healtier environment for the welfare of the strays on the streets and avenues, there are trainings about animal love (!!!!) , how to care/feed an animal (!!!) and animal health being given to animal volunteers, local animal protectors and students in primary schools. There are also briefings on the subject given to public periodically through printed and mass media.

Kind regards

Now… want to read my own commentary?

1. Does PETA agree with Kadir Topbas massacre of stray dogs in Istanbul?
Absolutely not. A PETA representative came to Istanbul two years ago, visited the shelters and appalled at what she saw she told the Municipality that the situation was unacceptable.

Why would the Municipality mention PETA in this release? I don’t know what PETA is going to do, but if I were them I would not only issue a very public message of rejection and condemnation, I would also launch a targeted campaign exposing the situation in Istanbul to the worldwide PETA community. Basically, the Istanbul Municipality is taking PETA for a ride and using their name to cover a massacre that is lasting years.

2. The rest of the letter deserves no commentary… pictures speak by themselves.

Now please… leave a comment to the Istanbul Municipality… they are dying to see the effect of their “message of denial”…

Please don’t bother being nice…

This is what you see in Kadir Topbaş Hasdal shelter if you arrive there early in the morning before the municipal workers have collected all the bodies, an endless stream of death caused by incorrect medical procedures, neglect and brutality.

And how does the Hasdal shelter disposes the bodies?  very easy… you put them in a garbage bag and thrown them in the trash can, no doubt many of them still alive.

As if this wasn’t brutal enough here is the insulting twist given by Ahmet Bulukbasi, the shelter manager.
Bolukbasi stated that in the last four months of operations only 10 dogs died. That is, 2.5 dogs per month.

That is a ridiculous lie that  only an idiot would believe now.

Volunteers working inside the shelter report to us that the average number of deaths is between 15 and 20 A WEEK!… that would make 80 dogs a month and an incredible 960 dead dogs directly as a result of Ismail Ay’s veterinary negligence in the last year. Wow!…

To this we must add that the vast totality of dogs Kadir Topbas Hasdal releases in the forest die shortly of hunger and disease contracted at the shelter. None of those thousands of deaths are reported…

We are going to slightly change strategy… Call Muhsin Dogan, the First secretary of Kadir Topbaş and tell him the world is looking at this in disgust.
Muhsin Dogan: +90 (0212) 455 14 00
Email: muhsin.dogan@ibb.gov.tr

WE NEED YOU, THE ANIMALS OF TURKEY NEED YOU TO COME TO BATTLE WITH US….
Join us here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15520956297

Please LIKE AND SHARE…