I think that it it’s time to redress the balance 😊. This awful tragedy has brought an incredibly shocking human death toll of 21,000 as at the date of this post with numbers climbing. We don’t know where it will end but I suspect considerably more than the current figure. By redressing the balance, I mean reporting on the number of animals lost in this catastrophe. The truth, however, is that we don’t have the numbers. This does not surprise me. What I can do, though, is present a couple of videos and some information in an infographic on animal rescue during these horrific moments.
Where a human life has been lost, it is not unlikely that a companion animal’s life will have been lost also. As it happens, Turkey is famous for their Turkish Van Turkish Angora cats. As far as I am concerned, in general, the citizens of Turkey are regarded as having a good attitude towards cats. There are perhaps more street cats and there should be in Turkey but, in general, they appeared to be accepted and treated kindly.
My mind turns to a story I wrote some years ago of a mother cat bringing her newborn kittens into a mosque to find a den for security. The mosque’s Iman accepted them with open arms. And I have seen domestic cats mingling with Muslims praying in mosques in Turkey.
This is how it should be if today’s Muslims are going to fall into line with the attitude of the Prophet Muhammad who on the face of it led the way regarding cat welfare 1,413 years ago at the inception of the Islamic faith.
I do like to see animal rescue workers saving the lives of companion animals. They are invariably very tender towards the animals that they save. And when they save the life of a cat, after a great struggle during which they risk their own lives, they smile. Cats make you smile particularly during such dire moments of fear and distress.
My favorite cat dad Ernesto of Aleppo Cat Sanctuary compound suffered damage,many cats were hurt and still in shock,I donated to him yesterday.
Link to donate
https://www.paypal.me/ErnestoSanctuary
Link to his facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/TheSyrianCatMen
Network for Animals is on the ground in Turkey and Syria. People aren’t getting help so you know the pets aren’t either. So NFA is bringing in vet and food supplies. I gave them $10 bucks. I really like NFA because they help all over the world. Their help in Ukraine has been phenomenal. They don’t ask if your a non profit they give to anyone helping animals that need it. Their work in South Africa in as dangerous as in Ukraine because of violent gangs. I do believe they have a UK office too.