Introduction by Chris Elliott….

For a number of years, Richard Beale our famed CyprusScene sports writer together with his wife Karen have been leading the campaign to care for street animals in the Esentepe area and this is what he had to say about this very pressing issue and project.

"Most reasonable minded people would be concerned for the plight of street animals and how they are cared for and here in Northern Cyprus we have a number of animal charities or self-help groups doing their best to care for the never diminishing numbers of street animals needing help.

One of these is the Esentepe Rehoming Project which is a re-incarnation of Esentepe Dog Shelter.

The origins of the shelter was first talked about in the summer of 2022 when the previous Municipality, together with various local businesses and individuals  planned on an old British Army Camp a  shelter for street dogs, boarding kennels, cattery, Cafe and veterinary rooms.

Worked started in that summer on the buildings, very basic cages were erected on the site. Various dogs who were roaming the village, most of them were owned and taken to the site and photographed for propaganda reasons. As the summer turned into Autumn work on the site suddenly stopped the dogs were forgotten about, locked up for 24 hours a day and kept in appalling conditions.

A small group of volunteers got involved to try and make the life of these poor wretched animals better. There was no perimeter fence but at that time we had enough volunteers to walk the dogs in the morning and the evening and to clean the cages properly and feed them better food.

We still had our problems all the young dogs contracted parvovirus, some horrible person unbeknown to us laid meat laced with poison around the back of the cages which some dogs ate. Miraculously we managed to save all the dogs with the help of Altay at Vetpoint.

A general election came and Esentepe and Çatalköy Municipalities joined together and a new Mayor was elected.

In January 2023 the new Mayor called a meeting for all people involved with looking after the dogs. He was  aware of the street dog problem, he wanted to honour his election manifesto and build a new shelter run with full time Belediye staff. He said unfortunately that is for the future not now as he has more pressing and urgent problems to deal with. He enquired ‘what can we do to help you now?’ Our reply was a perimeter fence and some help with funding as we relied totally on donations.

It wasn’t long before EMPERIA CONSTRUCTION COMPANY provided us with a much needed perimeter fence and some new dog cages.  They also paid for “Chemo” treatment for one of our dogs who had contracted Leishmania.

This gave the dogs much more freedom they were not locked up for 22 hours a day.

The Belediye also stepped up by providing a member of staff to help  weekdays in the mornings  and provide some of the cleaning products. They also made arrangements with the local vet Şerife to help with the costs of some of the veterinary treatment.

Like all shelters, the aim is to re-home  but this is becoming more difficult as more and more  dogs and puppies are being dumped by people who do not want the responsibility of looking after them.

This practice of abandonment which is illegal  has been increasing during 2023 to a point where it is no longer possible to house all of the dogs unless some of them are re homed.

So we have started a Facebook group called the Esentepe Rehoming Project with A New Year message of A New Beginning, of new hope, to re home the dogs which are in the compound.

All dogs are health checked, vaccinated, parasite controlled and neutered/spayed so they are there waiting for the right person to come and meet them and perhaps offer them a forever home.

So come on, some of you local readers do please reach out and help this new initiative to care for the Esentepe street dogs they need help.

IF YOU CANNOT HELP BY REHOMING A DOG THEN PERHAPS YOU CAN VOLUNTEER TO CLEAN, FEED AND WALK THE DOGS WE ARE DESPERATE FOR HELPERS.   Please pm me Richard Beale.

Thank you

Richard"

To read more about the Esentepe Rehoming Project please click here
https://cyprusscene.com/2024/01/26/animals-need-your-help-at-the-esentepe-rehoming-project/