 Have you ever helped any animal that you found on the street? I come from an animal-friendly household, so I cannot count the number of strays we've found and housed for a couple days until we had to give it to the vet for sale. It's almost like helping a lost person in the middle of nowhere. On behalf of the Bilkent Friends of Animals Club (Bilkent Hayvan Dostları), we want the Bilkent community to be aware of the animals that live here and be considerate toward them.
There was a trip organized on February 27 to visit the animal shelter located in Gölbaşı. With 20 volunteer Bilkent students, we were able to help a lot in taking out old newspapers, carpets, and cleaning up garbage. The shelter houses 4,000 dogs overseen by only nine workers, which if you do all the calculations, is equivalent to 445 dogs per worker. This statistic is heartbreaking.
However, the Gölbaşı Municipal (Belediye) is a big help to the shelter, since it distributes around two tons (approximately 2,000 kilos) of dog food. Understanding that the shelter's main issue is not food for the dogs, but it's the place where the dogs are kept.
During the winter and rainy seasons, it's really hard for the dogs to be dogs, when they sleep in mud and dirt. Some of the dogs are caged up, so you can only imagine how dirty it gets. This is because the shelter does not have enough cages for every animal, so they lack fences and cages. There is an agreement with one of the veterinarians in which the dogs have a check up every other day. The vet controls the dogs and makes sure none of them are sick. The dogs in need get special treatment and care. With all that care, however, there are still some dogs that are extremely skinny and look sick.
 Furthermore, this shelter is a nongovernmental organization and a part of the Meliha Yılmaz Foundations.
You can always help by doing simple acts such as donating items you don't use that the dogs can benefit from. During the summer time, it would help a lot if you kept a cup of water outside for the cats and dogs. Also, if you are planning to buy a dog, please visit the shelter first. Some of them are full breeds who have been abandoned by their owners.
If you want to be a part of the club, you can contact bilkenthayvandostlari@ yahoogroups.com. Also, you can join the Facebook group called Bilkent Hayvan Dostları to keep up with any events that take place. Lastly, if you have any items you think the dogs in the shelter could use, make sure you visitwww.melihayilmazvakfi.blogspot.com. All the information is given here.
Remember, a dog is a man's best friend.
İrem Esen (MAN/III)
Bilkent News
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