I brought last night’s puppy to a Turkish animal shelter in Hatay today. My contact at the construction site took this photo for me this morning before he drove me – under slight protest – across Hatay to an animal shelter (Turkish: hayvan barınağı). That’s why I look so happy. After that, I started the journey with this pup wrapped in my arms in the car and into the shelter.

To be honest, I don’t feel good about dropping the puppy off at the Turkish animal shelter. It’s the cruelest thing I’ve done in my life.

Upon arrival, there were a lot of dogs in the shelter barking and going crazy. I felt very distressed and so did the puppy, who was shaking and yelping. The guy who took the puppy in grabbed her very roughly by the skin at her neck. This felt very unnecessary since she’s so light. He then dropped her in an open-air fenced-off field with all the female dogs. It didn’t matter that all the other dogs were grown.

Then it was feeding time. Although the poor pup was hungry, I think this might not have been the right food for her. She also couldn’t reach the food because all the other dogs were at least as hungry and quite much more aggressive than the wee babe.

It was wrong. It felt wrong. Animal welfare feels helpless at times. I bawled my eyes out until I had to get my act together to hitchhike to Mersin.

 

#puppysaviorcomplex #puppylove #Hatay #Turkey #animalshelter