Turkey is full of stray animals, but across the county, people and organizations are hard at work to help out.
One of those people is a man named Mert Akkök. He’s a typical man who owns a small business, but he has a big heart for animals. While the government helps take care of the stray animals in cities like Istanbul, many still end up sick, injured, and in need of a helping hand.
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In an interview with Bored Panda, Mert explained, “Our government has to neuter and vaccinate them and then put them back on the streets … Anybody in Istanbul can see many homeless cats and dogs wandering around in the city. But some of them are dumped outside of the city because there are so many. And these ones have big difficulties in surviving.”
Mert struggled with seeing stray animals suffering, so he started to feed the hungry, nurse the weak back to health, and offer the cold a warm place to sleep.
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He told Bored Panda: “Some of these dogs I adopted myself because I couldn’t leave them where they lived. They needed care. So I started with one dog and when the number of my dogs reached five.”
Eventually, he realized he would need more space if he wanted to continue helping more and more dogs and stray animals out. So, he moved to a small village on the outskirts of Istanbul and settled into a farmhouse. There, he would have all the space he needed to take in any animals that needed help.
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His goal with his farm is to get the animals strong enough to live on the streets on their own or find homes for them to be adopted into. Since adopting and fostering several dogs, Mert has expanded his rescue operations to other species.
He started by rescuing a blind horse, followed by an injured seagull.
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Now, Mert is caring for 23 dogs, three cats, one blind horse, three geese, 46 seagulls with disabilities, and a donkey.
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It’s a lot to take care of, but he hires full-time staff to help out. He doesn’t take outside donations or volunteers and funds the entire project on his own.
You can keep up with Mert and his animals on TikTok and Instagram!