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OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
To relieve the suffering of animals,
predominantly stray and abandoned dogs
and by working closely with Didim Council,
to control the street animal population
by initiation of a Neuter & Return programme
Where is Didim?
Didim is a developing resort on the Aegean coast between Bodrum and Kusadasi.
Over 4000 British buyers having chosen to live or buy holiday homes here and a large percentage of them are animal lovers. So together with Turkish animal lovers it was decided to start a charity to help the animals of Didim.
Why was the charity created?
For many years, visitors to Didim have been remarking on the street animal situation. Dogs, dogs everywhere, all along the main seafronts and inland too, as well as what must amount to millions of cats, hanging around every rubbish bin.
Every Winter, the local council used to send out workers to cull the population. This was sometimes done by shooting, but more frequently by warfarin-laced meat, which caused a slow and painful death, with the dogs bleeding from every orifice, including ears, nose and eyes.
Horrific photo of a poisoned dog Street cat
Charity supporters
The charity work very hard, with a small but dedicated active group here in Turkey and also another group in the UK and supporters in Holland too, all working to raise funds, better the lives of the strays and create awareness of the Neuter and Return scheme and of the new Turkish Animal Rights laws.
Only recently, rallies were held around the world to protest against the daily abuse of strays in Turkey. This originated in Didim and rallies are being planned again for the Spring.
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