MENÜ
KAPAT
İLETİŞİM
HAYTAP TV
ENGLISH

English Content

Rescue teams treat animals saved from the rubble of Turkey quakes

https://www.haytap.org/tr/rescue-teams-treat-animals-saved-from-the-rubble-of-turkey-quakes

Rescue teams treat animals saved from the rubble of Turkey quakes

Amid the immense human suffering caused by the earthquakes, animals have been hugely affected, too. 

The Haytap animal rescue truck in Antakya

 

Antakya, Turkey – In a field hospital set up for animals in this southern city, a cat meowed in half-hearted protest as he was gently laid on a table, examined, and injected with painkillers and antibiotics by a volunteer veterinarian and her assistant.

The British Shorthair had been stuck in an apartment following two huge earthquakes on February 6. After almost two weeks, he finally jumped to the ground several floors below, where somebody found him injured.

The dust-coated cat could not use his back legs and was suffering from suspected hypothermia, so he was transferred to an incubator to warm up, where he continued protesting plaintively behind the glass. Once warm, he would probably have to be sent to a clinic outside the disaster zone where X-rays could be done on his legs and spine.

“There are lots of animals stuck inside rubble, many have been trapped for a long time,” Zinnet Patan, a 49-year-old vet normally living in Istanbul, told Al Jazeera at the field hospital.

“They get dehydrated and they have broken bones and wounds. The equipment is really limited here, so we only do first aid. Local vets are also the survivors of the earthquake and are often not able to help, so we are trying to help all kinds of animals.”

In a tent in a park about 1km (0.6 mile) downstream from Antakya’s devastated old city, Patan treats close to 100 animals a day. She administers vaccinations, stitches wounds, and helps animals give birth and care for their sickly young. Birds chirruped and cooed from their cages inside the small tent.

“People in this area really love pigeons – we once had 40 pigeons come in at once,” she said.

Vet Zinnet Patan, right, and veterinary technician Elif Akhan inspect an injured cat at the animal field hopsital in Antakya

Vet Zinnet Patan, right, and veterinary technician Elif Akhan inspect an injured cat at the animal field hospital in Antakya [Patrick Keddie/Al Jazeera]

The historic city of Antakya in Hatay province has been devastated by the magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes, which have now killed more than 40,000 people in Turkey and about 5,800 in Syria.

It is thought that nearly 35 percent of the buildings in Hatay have collapsed, while about 30 percent are severely damaged.

Amid the immense human suffering caused by the earthquakes, animals have been hugely affected, too.

Haytap, an animal welfare organisation that has experience working in earthquake zones and areas hit by wildfires, has taken charge of coordinating aid efforts and volunteers, who come from across Turkey and abroad. It set up the animal hospital on the first day of the disaster.

Patan had been volunteering at the hospital for four days. She would be replaced by another vet and go home on Monday, and the steady stream of injured animals had not slowed.

“I work almost 24 hours!” she said, laughing. “I get woken up a lot during the night.”

The Haytap animal rescue truck in Antakya 

‘A risk to our lives’

By the severely damaged seventh-century Habib-i Neccar mosque in Antakya’s old city, Haytap’s Hatay rescue team loaded more animals onto a truck carrying an assortment of cats, dogs, and rabbits.

Mehmet Gürkan Tığoğlu, who leads the rescue team, said Haytap volunteers are also working in three other earthquake-hit cities in southern Turkey – Kahramanmaraş, Malatya, and Osmaniye.

“In Hatay alone, we have rescued more than 1,000 animals. It’s a huge number and a big responsibility. We are working constantly,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It’s not an easy job. We enter really dangerous, collapsed buildings – it’s a risk to our lives. We are really tired, but when we rescue the animals, it gives us so much joy.”

The animals do what they need to survive, including eating their own faeces, and when they are rescued, they are often highly agitated.

“The animals are very stressed, they scratch, they bite – but it’s normal, they are protecting themselves and they are traumatised by the earthquake,” he said.

Michael Sehr, who normally works in a police animal rescue team in Germany, arrived in Antakya on Tuesday with his seven-strong crew to help.

“We rescue animals big and small,” he said. “Yesterday we went to a village and rescued a cow that had been trapped for 12 days.”

Ömer Semih Çelik, a 30-year-old from the northwestern city of Bursa, was coordinating the field hospital site. He said the owners of many of the animals being treated died in the earthquake or lost everything and could no longer care for them. Animals can be permanently housed at a farm run by Haytap in Bursa, or they can stay there until they are re-homed.

“We got used to [rescuing animals] in other situations, but in Hatay, the situation is really tough right now so we’re getting emotional more easily,” he said. “We feed our souls by rescuing animals – it makes us really motivated.”

He said the field hospital in Antakya most urgently needed food.

“We especially need bird seed – most people donate food for cats and dogs. And we need to carry boxes and crates, in every size – because we treat everything from mice to huge dogs,” he said, pointing to an enormous black mastiff, whose owner could no longer look after him.

“We just rescued some koi carp. A goose just came in. People bring in their chickens,” he added.

 

For more updates please feel free to follow us on facebook english page  and our instagram page

https://www.facebook.com/HaytapEnglish
https://www.instagram.com/haytap/

For people that are willing to help, there are several accounts below for donations(Euro, Dollar, Swiss Franc). 

 



for credit card options : https://fonzip.com/haytap/bagishttps  ( the link is in many languages. You have to scroll down to change the language and the currency )



DONATIONS :
 

The donations you will make to the first federation in Turkey found on animal rights, HAYTAP Animal Rights Federation is delivered as aid to animal in need around the country. You can do your donation using your credit card on this highly secure website.

With monthly donations, you will be extending a helping hand to animal in need. You can donate as a one-time donation or as a monthly commitment, whichever you prefer.

HAYTAP 's all bank accounts go through international audit via a tax and advisory firm KPMG Turkey and by the Istanbul Governance and Associations.

If you check the "I want to have a monthly regular donation" option, the amount you set will be automatically charged from your credit card on the same date each month.

 

WHERE DO WE USE YOUR DONATIONS?

With the donations you make to HAYTAP, we complete many projects around the country, all with the mission of helping homeless animals.

 

Your donations become a variety of items such as a surgery room, cat / dog shelter, food, and health support ,rescuing , pr works  , lobbying in parliament , etc for animals in locations where nobody sees them or hears them. Please click here to see further details on these projects. 

 

HERE ARE SOME OTHER WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT HAYTAP

www.haytapshop.com : By ordering all the needs of your pets through the www.HaytapShop.com link, you are supporting the HAYTAP projects. With no extra charge and free shipping for 200TL and above, you can complete payment via kredi card, bank transfer or pay at your door upon delivery; and the entire amount is transferred to the projects funds of HAYTAP.


www.sosrooms.com:     As you are making travel plans, if you visit www.SOSRooms.com , you will be transferred o booking.com. And from that moment, as you make your bookings on booking.com, you will be donating to HAYTAP without any extra cost. Booking.com sends a certain percentage of the earnings to HAYTAP as a donation.

The donations you will make to the first federation in Turkey found on animal rights, HAYTAP Animal Rights Federation in Turkey is delivered as aid to animal in need around the country. You can do your donation using your credit card on this highly secure website.

With monthly donations, you will be extending a helping hand to animal in need. You can donate as a one-time donation or as a monthly commitment, whichever you prefer.

 

To get more detailed information please contact us via email;

contact : haytap@haytap.org 


Thank you so much for your concerns and supports,