BIF Updates February '20

February brought about a major and wonderful collaboration :) . Monika Ozkaya, a fellow animal angel, has joined us at Birdislandfarm with her 12 rescued dogs! We are now up to 32- excluding 2 goats, a rabbit, a donkey and a pony :)

We get along great, the animals get along and as Monika has experience in promoting and re-homing internationally our partnership has already worked fantastically in the first 2 weeks. Together with Lisanne, yet another angel based in Aydin/Merkez, we have managed to find a home for Tony in the USA. He is on his way as I write this post! The new owners are wonderful people and they are literally counting the days until Tony finally gets there. Our hearts are full of joy - this is what rescuing is all about!

We have one new resident at the Farm. Spotty is a lovely, timid, fine girl. Rescued a couple of weeks ago, it became clear that she was not able to handle life on the streets. Desperate for attention, crying and screaming even whilst in a protected area. These kind of souls are doomed for accidents, bullying, abuse - it was clear we had to act and take her in at some point. Sooner than imagined and planed we were able to accept her at the farm.

Spotty suffers from Anaplasma, Erlichiosis and Scabies - all illnesses that are absolutely treatable. She is safe now and she will get better. Once we have established her character we will promote her adoption. She's a keeper - that much is clear :)

And now a plea for help:

We have had major damage to four of our dog cages, roofs flew away, metal flew around and dog houses collapsed. We have rebuilt almost everything and whilst one dog (Hugo) ran for the hills an excruciating 24h before his return, all pups were safe and ended up in the human-house for a couple of days :).

One dog enclosure is a 3x5m steel frame, stone or sand/earth floor, 3 to 6 wooden pallets covered in an easy to clean carper-like material, a dog house (steel/wood/betopan/roofing - waterproof, blankets and a mattress). The cost of one amounts to 1000TL.

We have furthermore decided that what is really needed in a place like ours, which is supposed to support other rescuers and rescue organizations, is a sterile, clean area.

Every time a new animal comes to the farm there are immediate threats to consider (no matter how careful one is with medication and up to date vaccs). Flees (relentless little beasts!), Worms, Scabies, Parvo, Distemper - just to name a few. The cost of disinfecting a 5000m2 area every time is unbearable. Hence - Quarantine Houses. We would like to build absolutely sterile 2x3 or 3x5 huts, steel frame, betopan/wood walls, waterproof roofing, door, 1 window and easy to clean PVC flooring inside. These seem small but more than enough for dogs to go through a quarantine phase until we can determine where to place them.

The cost of one hut - with friendly prices from our builders - amounts to 1400TL.

And last but not least, Food! It is still very much winter here and the pups need an extra layer to get through cold nights!

We are grateful for everything and anything! With your help we can keep doing what we do - for them.

Love, always and everywhere :)

Monika & Chantal