Our visit in Yedikule animal shelter / Istanbul Report of the Comenius-Team from Gymnasium am Mühlenweg, Wilhelmshaven

Yedikule animal shelter On Tuesday, 24th of May, we – the APE-team from Wilhelmshaven - visited an animal shelter in Istanbul. We were astonished how easy it was to find it. We took the bus nr.91 from the city centre to Yedikule and – were lead by a big sign.

Situated at the Theodosian wall We turned to the left, went along the Theodosian wall and one minute later we already saw many friendly dogs. A waste disposal site has been turned into an animal shelter.

Waiting in the middle of dogs 3.200 dogs are living in the shelter. Some of them stay outside on the street (with only very few cars driving past). We met a lot of wonderful animals there.

Mrs Olcay: talking to the architect and volunteer manager We had a chance to talk to Mrs Meral Olcay, an architect who also draw the architecture of the shelter. It was her initiative which was the origin of this shelter. She is a very friendly, positive and energetic person. One of the volunteers, Sahset bey, translated for us. Also his little daughter was there; she, too, loved the dogs very much.

The building The shelter was built in 2001 after the plans Mrs Olcay draw. Meanwhile she also draw shelter projects for other municipalities. The areal has more than 8000 m². There was an extension since the number of animals increased. Now they are working on a third part. Then also the dogs from outside will have a place inside.

Inside the shelter There are no cages for single dogs. The animals live in groups. Some of them stay in the passage ways with a kennel of their own. They, too, have contact with other dogs.

Some of them...

... they wait to be caressed...

The finances The shelter is run by the municipality . They give half of the amount that is needed, the other part are donations. We saw people appearing, some of them buisnessmen in a suit, who brought food and other things. Obviously the local community is positive and supports their shelter.

The staff 22 employees are working at the shelter, 12 of them payed by the municipality, 12 payed from the donations collected by the volunteers. We experienced that they really like their job. We also met the veterinary surgeon. Also he is not just posted to this job by the municipality, but really cares for the animals.

Adopting a dog There are strict rules for adoption, for example: - interview in the shelter and controll of the future home making sure that no landlord can intervene (own house or flat) Will he, too, find a new home? - no chains, no cannels, place inside the family - > controll also afterwards -> therefore: adoption only in Istanbul itself

Supporting a dog People who can‘t keep a dog in their home can also have a dog of their own. They can choose a dog that remains in the shelter, but they support the animal with: food visit: stroking, caressing, playing around walk. In that way they can make the live of a shelter dog as convenient as possible.

Youth work and public relations The volunteers use internet, advertisements and campaigns to draw people‘s attention to the shelter dogs and to the possibility to choose a „second hand“ dog instead of a puppy from a pet shop. The shelter is open every day. On Tuesday and Thursday there is an educational programme for school classes. The website is very informative: and there is always someone you can contact by phone or email; anwer and help comes immediately. We experienced this by ourselves. http://www.fatihbelediyesiyedikulehayvanbarinagi.com/

Thank you ! (These two pictures of our group were taken by the team of Yedikule animal shelter.) We would like to thank the team of Yedikule animal shelter very much that they had time for us and explained so much! Especially thanks to Mrs Meral Olcay and Sahset bey and his little daughter.

Remembrances Each of us got a calendar with pictures of the shelter dogs as a remembrance. Many of the dogs that we met are portraied there. We wanted to thank Meral Olcay, Mr Sahset and the shelter team. We learned that here is always need for good and strong hair cutters, because the fur of some dogs would become long and felted. So we asked the parents for support and planned a lottery at a feast at the end of the school year. In that way we could transfer 600 € to Yedikule animal shelter.

Text and pictures… … are written and taken by our German APE-logo International APE- logo … are written and taken by our APE-delegation from Wilhelmshaven to Istanbul with the exception of the two pictures and the logo of Yedikule animal shelter which wer e taken from the shelter website. a documentation of our Comenius-project APE (animal protection in Europe)

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.