Resist the Poisoners: Protect Dogs, Demand Accountability
From toxic bait to lethal injections, Turkey’s stray animals are being systematically silenced. This is not control—it’s extermination.
In Turkey, stray animals are being silenced—not with kindness, but with poison.
Hidden in food, injected in secret, or scattered across public spaces, toxic substances are being used to wipe out entire populations of dogs & cats.
Others die slowly after eating garbage, soil, or plastic in desperation—killed not by intent, but by starvation and neglect.
This isn’t population control.
It’s the quiet extermination of a species society has cast aside.
And while the world looks away, the killing continues.
Killing by Design: The Scourge of Poisoning
Across towns and villages in Turkey, poison is the weapon of choice. Laced into scraps of sausage, meat, or hidden in everyday rubbish, it’s placed in parks, streets, and near shelters—anywhere dogs forage for food.
One of the most shocking incidents occurred in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district on 1 September 2024, when poisoned bait placed near Kalamış Park killed three dogs and more than 30 cats, with many others falling ill.
This wasn’t a one-off tragedy—similar mass poisonings have been reported across the country.
In Gebze, 44 animals—a mixture of dogs and cats—were found dead from anaesthetic poisons, apparently administered by municipal workers. Some were still in the last gasps of life when the plastic bags they had been placed in were opened.
Starved to Death: When Hunger Becomes a Killer
For those who escape deliberate poisoning, hunger plays its own cruel hand.
With no access to reliable food, many stray dogs resort to consuming anything they can find—plastic bags, rags, stones, rubber—or even soil.
Take Gül: abandoned in a rural forest, she was forced to eat earth just to dull the gnawing hunger. She was skeletal and suffering terribly when she was rescued.
Then there was Yıldız: a nursing mother who scavenged toxic waste to feed her puppies. She was found convulsing, poisoned by garbage she consumed in desperation.
Yıldız didn’t survive—and her pups were left alone, motherless.
These heart breaking stories are tragically common.
Fear, Lies, and the Real Enemy: Human-Animal Conflict
This isn’t about wild animals attacking humans—it’s about fear-driven propaganda, alarmist media, who fuel a narrative that stray dogs are grotesque pests rather than living beings in need.
The result? A wave of hatred legitimised by laws allowing “culling” under the pretext of safety. The real conflict here is human vs. humanity.
How Dog Desk Animal Action Redresses The Balance
At Dog Desk Animal Action, we stand beside the voiceless.
Partnering with Turkish advocates, we challenge cruelty and champion compassion:
Feeding Programmes: Legal food delivery to vulnerable dogs
Emergency Vet Support: Funding critical care for dogs poisoned or injured—sometimes just in time to save their lives.
Education & Awareness: Speaking truth to power, countering misinformation, and revealing the real effects of policies that are failing.
Advocacy & Solidarity: Supporting Turkish activists, offering advice to those with power who will listen and pushing for humane, sustainable solutions instead of violence.
You Are Part of the Solution
This isn't just a Turkish problem—it’s a human problem. And each of us can respond with compassion.
Join Kibble Club —help dogs like Gül and Yıldız survive their greatest threat
Support emergency care—stand with the poisoned, injured, and traumatised.
Share the truth—because silence kills.
Every time we look away, the killing continues. When we ignore these atrocities, we allow them to grow in the shadows. But when we speak—when we share what is happening—we force the world to look.
Every post, every share, every conversation makes it harder for authorities to operate in silence. The more voices that rise in outrage and compassion, the harder it becomes for cruelty to hide.
So be the voice that breaks the silence.
Tell the world about Gül. Tell them about Yıldız.
Keep speaking until it can no longer be ignored