Meet Mert Akkök, who has a private animal shelter on his farm near Istanbul. His animal sanctuary welcomes stray animals that need extra love and care, and if you think it’s only dogs or cats that are under his care… well, prepare to be surprised.
Mert has around 20 dogs, plus several cats, goats, donkeys, birds, and other animals one might find unusual.
Akkök makes it his daily routine to take care of all of them, whether they may be sick, ᴅɪsᴀʙʟᴇᴅ, or just homeless before they happened to find their way into his shelter. He makes sure to give each animal the extra love they need as they all live together like one big family.
It already houses 23 dogs, 3 cats, a blind horse, 46 wounded gulls, geese, a donkey, and 3 sheep. Mert Akkok decided to move from city to village in order to be able to open an animal shelter.
“I have between 10 to 20 dogs on my farm. I rescue them from junkyards, forests, rural areas outside of the city. I try to find homes for them. Some of them stay with me forever. Especially very old and sick ones. Nobody wants to adopt them. Plus I have 46 ᴅɪsᴀʙʟᴇᴅ seagulls, 1 ʙʟɪɴᴅ horse, 3 geese (they have a long story), 3 cats, and just today I adopted a baby donkey. For the time being, I have 23 dogs. Most of them are old or ᴅɪsᴀʙʟᴇᴅ.”
He tries to find new families for the animals, but most of them remain with him at the shelter.
We were also wondering whether Mert received any kind of help from other people as well.
“This is not my job or the main thing in life. I am a small business owner. I own and manage my company which is a consultancy company for international marketing of healthcare services. I am a busy person. But the times that I am not working, I devote my time to help these homeless animals (mostly dogs that try to live in the forests, junkyards, countryside areas on their own without anyone caring for them. We have packs of them everywhere).”
We also wanted to find out what the daily life at the farm looks like.
“My daily life on the farm: I wake up early. I walk my dogs to the forest. I have a truck and I drive them to some quiet areas in the forest near my village where they run and play in the forest and then we come back home. I feed and cater my horse and play music to her. She loves it when I play to her with my saxophone. Then I feed my seagull friends and the cats. I finish with the geese, they get to eat the last.
Then I go to my office in the city and work. I try to come back home early.
I always have some dog food in the trunk of my car. So on my way to the city and back, I stop by some areas where colonies of homeless dogs live. I feed them and then continue to drive.
Sometimes when I see that one of them has a health problem, I take that one to the veterinary clinic. After the treatment, if the dog can continue their life in the same area, I take them back to the same place. But if the vet tells me that they need special care, I take that one home with me.”
