When visiting Turkey don’t be surprised by the large number of cats and dogs you will notice in the streets of the cities. If you find a kind of earring in their ear means they have been checked by official professionals so they are in good health condition and have been vaccinated against rabies.

You can offer assistance to the stray animals wandering on the streets. There are some animal shelters in various districts of the towns in Turkey so it is easy to get in touch with one of them.

After the necessary vaccination, rehabilitation and neutering operations, the shelters try to find families to look for those animals. If you want to help these stray animals but cannot keep them at home, it is possible to take responsibility for one as a "protective family".

Besides the shelters there are several association and groups working for the benefit of stray animals in Turkey. Their aim is to collect stray cats and dogs, neuter them, complete the necessary shots and after fastening  ear-tags, the animals are sent back to streets and checked periodically.

Some of these associations try to find new homes for them. They will be grateful for any kind of assistance.

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Some of the Animal Protection Associations

Animal Rights Federation www.haytap.com 

Society for the protection of Stray Animals (SHDK - Sahipsiz Hayvanlar Koruma Derneği) www.shkd.org 

Haykod Animal Protection Association (Haykod Hayvanları Koruma Derneği) www.haykod.org

The mission of Haykod: If there is any hope for an animal –any hope at all – we create that hope. Nothing will stop us from supplying a happy life to that animal until the end of its natural lifetime.This is our commitment because we are the worlds’ largest no-kill animal sanctuary.

Association for the Protection of Animals and Nature (Doğayı Hayvanları Koruma Derneği) www.dohayko.org

Animal Rescue Association of Ankara (Hayvan Kurtarma Derneği Ankara) hayvankurtarma.wordpress.com

Volunteer at a Local Animal Shelter (Barınak Gönüllüleri Derneği) www.bgd.org.tr

Quotes about Animals

Better to give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right.
I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.
I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
Killing the dog does not cure the bite.
Abraham Lincoln dog quote.

Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
Albert Einstein

Lots of people talk to animals.... Not very many listen, though.... That's the problem.
Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

I don't believe in the concept of hell, but if I did I would think of it as filled with people who were cruel to animals.
Gary Larson

Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to.
Alfred A. Montapert

Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
William Shakespeare

Animals have these advantages over man: They have no theologians to instruct them, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.
Voltaire

The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men.
Émile Zola