Why We Are Not Celebrating World Animal Day This Year
A Day That Should Bring Joy
Every year on World Animal Day, we normally come together to celebrate the animals who share our world their loyalty, their beauty, and the joy they bring into our lives. It has always been a day of hope, compassion, and unity.
But this year, things are different. For the first time, we will not be celebrating.
A Time to Remember
Instead of marking the day with joy, we are pausing to reflect and to honour the lives that have been lost. Across Turkey, too many dogs have suffered and died in unimaginable ways.
Shelters, places that should have been safe havens have instead become sites of cruelty and neglect. Gebze, Kars, and many other locations are names that now carry deep sorrow, places where innocent lives ended far too soon.
Paying Our Respect
This World Animal Day, we will not be celebrating. We will be paying our respect. We bow our heads in memory of every dog who never had the chance to feel love, comfort, or safety.
Their suffering must never be forgotten. Their memory demands our grief, our outrage, and our determination to ensure this never happens again.
A Vow for Change
Out of this grief comes a vow:
We will continue to work alongside our Turkish friends until every shelter is a place of safety, compassion, and care.
We will not stop pressing for accountability.
We will not stop calling for reform.
We will not stop until shelter truly means refuge, protection, and care.
Looking Ahead
World Animal Day should be a time of joy and celebration. One day, we hope it will be again. But this year, it is not. This year, it is a day of remembrance and a call to action.
In memory. In solidarity. For change.