Kyrenia Animal Rescue

Established in 1997 and officially recognised by the RSPCA in 1998, the Kyrenia Animal Rescue (KAR) charity in North Cyprus does the absolute best they can for the abundance of animals living wild or abandoned in North Cyprus…but with our help they could do so much more.

I am writing this article today after spending Easter weekend caring for a sick puppy (pictured) I found abandoned by the side of the road and getting to know the best vet in North Cyprus and learning more from her about the work she and KAR do. Please read on if you care about North Cyprus.

Before I moved to North Cyprus I wanted a dog more than anything else in the world – I am dog mad but was never in a job where I was home for more than a few hours a day and then it was only to sleep! So to have a dog would have been cruel. When I moved to North Cyprus I had the time and energy to devote to looking after a mutt and took on a pedigree Weimaraner that was unwanted because he has a flash of white on him. I didn’t approach KAR for a rescue dog or puppy because I wasn’t really aware of what they did or how many animals were actually in need of rescuing.

Thinking about it now my Weim ‘Cheese’ would probably have found it easy to find a home - he is after all incredibly beautiful and talented – see how he can stick his tongue right up his nose?! Cheese So I should have rescued a puppy more in need than him. But as stated, at the time I knew nothing about KAR and the work they did and actually thought they should really be more responsible and put more dogs down instead of catching them, castrating or spaying them and putting them back on the street to maybe get run over and to have to scavenge for food and upset the locals so much that they put poison down.

You see many North Cypriots are terrified of dogs – so much so that they put poison down to keep dogs away from them. And this poison kills slowly and horribly, and sometimes pampered pooches get hold of it too which makes for tragic stories in Cyprus Today every now and again. So I felt for a long time that it would be kinder for KAR to catch these dogs and simply put them down if they couldn’t give them shelter or re-home them…but I don’t think that anymore and here’s why.

On Good Friday I took Cheese for a walk and part of our constitutional takes us along a main road…as I was returning along said main road a tiny puppy emerged from the undergrowth and threw herself at us. At the same time a car was tearing down the road so fast that it was slewing all over the place – driven by a testosterone fuelled prat – so I dragged Cheese into the side (not easy as he weighs 40kg!) and screamed at my husband to grab the puppy. Luckily we were all unscathed but it was close! So then we started looking round for the puppy’s owner – or her mother. I looked at her and despite the fact that she was filthy she seemed to have a really fat tummy so I thought she must be well cared for. Unfortunately I was wrong.

We couldn’t find anyone in the vicinity so decided reluctantly that we’d better take her home and then drop her off at KAR in the morning. We washed her, put some frontline on her and popped her in a box with some food and water close by and spent the night resenting her plaintive cries which were upsetting Cheese and disturbing our neighbours. Now without going into details that will upset you, this puppy turned out to be very ill. We got her to the vet next day very early and probably just in time. Her fat belly was not full of food and the vet said it really was touch and go…she was cross with us for suggesting she put the puppy down and made us feel so guilty that we said we’d care for her at least until she got better.

For the last five days we’ve been going back and forth to see vet Ferdiz and getting to know the puppy Milly (as she’s now called!) and falling in love with her. She is an absolute bully to poor Cheese though she only comes up to his ankles, she steals his food, toys and bed and hangs off his ears when playing with him…but she is hysterical and so full of life that I am sure she will make it even though it’s still touch and go.

Today was our last visit for antibiotics at the vet and it was also the vet’s KAR day…she had a floor full of unconscious dogs with their tongues hanging out who had just been spayed/castrated (they did look funny) and in a corner she had a box full of identical black and white fat, gorgeous, wriggly, cute puppies – which she has to put down.

Every single day KAR get up to 10 puppies dumped on them. They are puppies without homes, without anyone to care for them, they are unwanted, unloved and KAR have just got no space for them. So every week a vet who trained for years to look after animals and who loves animals and kisses all her four legged patients and cuddles them and cares for them and cries with their owners when they are sick has to kill puppy after puppy after puppy after puppy. From the look on Ferdiz’s face when she was telling me I could tell it was destroying her.

So no, I don’t think Kyrenia Animal Rescue should catch dogs and kill them. I think each dog and cat owner in Cyprus should have their pet spayed or castrated (sorry Cheese, your whatsits are coming off!), I think those who can and want to should adopt a puppy or a kitten, I understand that many people don’t want animals in their home and I would ask them to consider sponsoring a pet or giving some money to KAR, and for those who can’t help financially what about giving unwanted clothes, books, furniture and bric a brac to the charity for them to sell in their shop? Details of all the imaginative ways you can help can be found on KAR’s website: -

http://www.kyreniaanimalrescue.org/

And for those of you who are still not convinced or who don’t like giving to charity, consider buying a can of dog or cat food once a week when you go to the supermarket – it’s not going to break the bank and it doesn’t mean any real effort on your part. You can then drop the food off every once in a while at KAR, or at their charity shop or even at Ferdiz’s vets practice behind the Pia Bella hotel – call her on 0533 866 3806 for directions or to adopt a dog or cat. If we all do SOMETHING so much more will be achieved in the long run. Please help – don’t remain ignorant like I did!