The Amazing Work of KAPSA

The amazing view from the villa.

In October half term I was spending a week of work experience free relaxing time on holiday in Turkey.  However, those who know me will realise that this is impossible as wherever I go I seem fated to wind up with the animals! 

The view from one of the 300 restaurants

I stayed at the fishing village of Kalkan that had increasingly grown over the last few years due to the rise in tourism from the UK in the area.  Multiple Brits had moved across and bought property due to the amazing views, great weather and great food - there were 300 restaurants!  I really enjoyed the holiday and it was amazing being able to immerse yourself into the culture of the town with the Turkish food - not the all-inclusive British food in Turkey - and the call to prayer multiple times a day which reminded you that you were somewhere completely different to home!

It is also impossible for anyone visiting Kalkan not to notice the incredible amount of street animals.  Nobody can know exactly how many street animals there actually is due to more animals being dumped in the town and some dying or disappearing but KAPSA have neutered 1518 street animals since 2008 (statistic from the 10th November 2013) so that should give you some idea of the amount.  It was a very surreal experience having personal escorts everywhere by all the animals - every night the dogs would walk us back to the villa, they refused to leave until you got to your destination and would walk all the way across town with you no matter how many times you tried to keep them from following you, they would.  They were not begging for food and for street animals they were in very good health - no doubt helped by KAPSA's work.  One dog behind and one dog in front just walking with the occasional stop and check that you are keeping up with them and that the front dog was not leaving you behind.  The cats would just come out from everywhere as you walked by to come out and brush against your legs.  The Turkish and the tourists were evidently looking out for these animals.

Backwards from Britain.

That would be how I would describe it.  All the animals any family would love as an ideal family pet lived on the street and belonged to everyone.  The animals that I noticed causing a "kerfuffle" were the owned ones.  Maybe because they are not part of the hierarchy of the street dog pact or maybe they were adopted because they didn't fit in in the first place? I don't know.  Whereas in Britain the majority of the unsocialised dogs are in dogs homes or euthanised (not including the ones with mistraining from the owners causing them to be agressive...that is another debate for another day) and the ones like the street dogs of Kalkan are in homes.  Compared to the UK I thought everything was in harmony here.  You wouldn't dream of letting the dogs and cats run the length of the practice or there would be chaos and probably dead cats but here it didn't even cross my mind that I would have to worry about anything breaking out and as they were are socialised from a very young age and knew their place. What amazed me was that there was kittens just wandering around less than the size of your hand and the next minute a giant great dane sized dog walks straight past with neither batting an eyelid!

Trying her luck with the not so amused cats!

So onto KAPSA...

I saw a poster on the Wednesday of my Saturday to Saturday week long holiday about the work of KAPSA that mentioned "please feel free to pop-in and see our work at out clinic."   So being myself I e-mailed them asking if I could come for the day on the Friday.  They were so organised and Maggi replied very quickly that it was fine - which I was amazed at because I thought I would be far too last minute to have a chance of going! 

So I arrived at 9am at the clinic in chaos and met Lynn who was feeding the cats, there were lots of cats coming to the clinic for their breakfast (cats are afraid of the vets in the UK - as many cat owners will know - and don't come willingly  - these Turkish cats need to have a word with the ones in Britain and tell them there's nothing to be afraid of!)  And in the midst of all the cats were the other in-patients who were trying their luck annoying the cats!

This little puppy was hit by a car on the D400 a major road around Kalkan.  Amazingly she didn't sustain any major injuries but at only about 8 weeks old she was far too small to fend for herself on the streets. She is a gorgeous puppy who loved to have fun and cause chaos with the other inpatient pup with a broken leg whilst running round the clinic! Apparently she has breeding from a hunting dog decent due to her nose shape (It looks like a heart if you see her up close) however the rest of her body hasn't quite got the typical characteristics of a Turkish hunting dog. Since I returned to the UK she has been adopted and now called Suzie so hopefully causing mischief and putting smiles on more peoples faces.

The puppy above's partner in crime is this lovely puppy also hit by a car however he didn't fare as well with a broken leg.  The amazing thing I found about the clinic at KAPSA is that this very expensive operation is performed on street animals.  In the UK, some owned animals don't get this operation because it is too expensive and people can't afford to spare the money.

First task of the day was cleaning up and feeding all the in-patients.  Being street animals some of them weren’t all too keen on cat food and one in-patient much preferred lahmacun (it’s hard to explain what it is…it’s kind of like a pizza base with tomatoes and herbs that people roll up with salad in the middle) and also cake.  But that is usual because there isn’t much cat food on the street!   After feeding all the hungry bodies peace was restored.  Hasan and Didem arrived and vet tasks began. 

First we changed the little puppies bandage and splint which they did every two weeks.  Unfortunately it was slightly infected so had to have some antibiotics to help that.  To create the bandage/splint Didem drew a sketch of his leg onto cardboard, cut it out and with Hasan's help with a saw and some bits of wood and tape created him a splint.  In the UK the dogs have the same as a human would have - a pot which just for the material in the UK costs £100.  So a lot more animals can be helped just with a bit of wood and some cardboard!

Another of the one eyed kittens.

Ates

Ates saying hello to a one eyed kitten.

Another quite long term in-patient was Ates (fire).  He was suffering with mange and had just been declared not contagious anymore when I came.  He still had quite a bit of fur to grow back.  He was a larger than life character who was getting very stir-crazy from not being able to go out anywhere but he was very happy in the company of the cats.  He is currently still waiting for a home and would be a great pet as he is very very very friendly - and loves cuddles!  The mange was treated with injections, medicated baths and lots of TLC from all the volunteers.

A kitten came in to the clinic in the afternoon that was about the size of my hand.  Someone heard screaming when someone turned their car's engine on and this kitten (now called Minnie) was inside.  She had a very badly mangled paw (for example if a normal paw was the shape of an upside down spoon, her paw was upward facing spoon shaped).  She couldn't use her claws because of it - which apparently proved a little difficult for her when she tried scaling the curtains at her fosterer's house!

Due to the hard work fundraising and an amazing donation from an individual in the UK KAPSA were able to buy an x-ray for the clinic which is great because x-rays can be taken and seen within a few minutes and there is no stress of further movement to the injured animals. Before they were having to take injured animals 85km to Fethiye just for an X-Ray!

Again in the UK many animals are denied treatment due to the expense of x-rays.

Trap, Neuter and Return.

Kapsa operates a trap, neuter and return programme to try and maintain and eventually diminish the population of street animals in Kalkan.  The idea being that they catch an animal, neuter it and give them a vaccination against rabies and return it to the place where it was caught.  This is a forever ongoing process with multiple animals in a day for neutering - about 7 the day I was there.  It is working but it is a slow process.    

The problem is that if one male and one female dog were left without being neutered.  How many puppies will they and their puppies, and their puppies etc. produce in 6 years? 

The answers I was getting from people I have asked were as low as 40 and as high as 500.  It is actually 67,000 puppies.  That is the problem Kalkan is facing.  There are too many street animals being left to their own devices and have the opportunity to breed.  What KAPSA is trying to do is try to stop the uncontrolled breeding for the numerous reasons:

• Some people find these animals are pests, so shoot or try to poison them. (there unfortunately have been such cases).
• Due to the amount of animals, some are kept by businesses for the tourist season and put on the streets through the winter.  Some restaurant owners have been known to find a puppy for the tourist season to try and get the business, throw it out in the winter and get a new puppy in the spring.  TNR makes it harder for them to do that by removing the large availability of the pups.

• 

  A dog in for spaying and the 2 pups.

  There are still a lot of animals that have "special needs" such as Minnie and the one eyed kittens that just cannot live on the streets as they would be too prone to accidents and Ates who has been in the company of humans for the duration of his long stay at KAPSA is too used to humans to be put back on the streets so would really like a home - but if a home cannot be found for him soon he will have to be put on the streets.

Yes many people find it hard even in Britain to neuter the dog because it "isn't natural" or it's "cruel" but actually neutering is improving the welfare of the animals on the street by their treatment by humans and also they are less likely to get:

•  Pyometra (an infection of the womb which requires hospitalisation, intravenous fluids, antibiotics and spaying and is a risky procedure - much more risky than spaying normally and sometimes fatal - as the uterus is filled with pus.)
• Neutering may help with behavioural problems and can reduce aggression, reduce possessiveness over toys and food, reduce territorial behaviour towards visitors and reduce the tendency to roam in search of a mate.
• Neutering eliminates the occurrence of testicular cancer.
• Neutering markedly reduces the incidence of benign hyperplasia of the prostate gland, prostatitis and perineal hernias in dogs.
•  Prevents breast cancer.  Breast cancer can be fatal in about 50 percent of female dogs and 90 percent of female cats. 

 For an older, seriously ill animal, anesthesia and surgery are complicated - often fatal -and costly.

Winter Feeding Programme:

Spot the kitten? You wouldn't get this in UK vets!

Due to the availability of food in Kalkan being seasonal (due to the English tourists and restauranteurs only running the restaurants for the summer months) KAPSA organise a winter feeding programme so the animals do not get hungry during the winter months.  They distribute food to volunteers placed all around the town and they take a record of the animals they are feeding due to the tags on the dogs and identification of the cats and any unlogged animals are taken for neutering (it is much easier to catch them when they know someone and come for food everyday).  Last year with 70 volunteers, 6,300kg (nearly 7 tonnes!) of cat and dog food was given out between November and April!

 

Education:

The volunteers also go around local schools trying to teach them the importance of treatment of the animals.  KAPSA try and share with them what its like being a street animal and how we should help them.  This is important as this is the generation that when they grow up they will bring their animals for neutering and be responsible pet owners.


All the volunteers at KAPSA are animal mad and very nice and welcoming! I would like to thank Maggi, Sandra, Lynn, Gulfem, Jan, Hasan and Didem for showing me everything you did and introducing me to lahmacun and to all the other volunteers that I met and all the ones I didn't get chance to meet.


As KAPSA are a charity they are in need of funds to keep them doing their amazing work.  If you want to find out more then you can go on their website http://www.kapsaonline.com/

Join the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofkapsa/
Follow KAPSA on twitter @KapsaKalkan

And to donate which would be greatly appreciated visit the website and follow the instructions or the PayPal account is: kapsa.kalkan.ukdonations@gmail.com and our UK bank account is: Lloyds TSB, Sort Code: 30-97-62, A/C Number: 00259909. A/C Name: KAPSA. Thank you in advance from all the people at KAPSA, the Street Animals and myself as you can truly see what this money does for the animals Kalkan and the surrounding villages.

 

KAPSA are running low on cat baskets and other essential things.  Here are two kittens for neutering snuggled up together.