Bodrum, where the shopping malls keep food and water containers for the street animals outside, shopkeepers and residents doing their best to feed and take care of them, to tell you the truth, is a town embracing all the street animals. However, it renders us, the Bodrum residents, weak at the knees that the people, who come to Bodrum only in summer, abandon their pets, which they had for protection or to be their friends, while leaving Bodrum or leaving them on streets without neutering and therefore the numbers of those animals keep on rising. Talking about the ones, which are abandoned because they are old or are not able to meet the expectations, embarrass us a great deal as well.
The facilities, which are actually supposed to be temporary dog and cat placements, standing with the support of the municipality, volunteers and associations, located in Torba and Turgutreis, are good examples of animal shelters in our opinion although they have not met the standards required yet…
Fundraising sales and dinners are being held for the stray animals throughout the year in Bodrum; the volunteers do their best in many aspects, such as shelter cleaning, taking dogs for a walk, providing temporary homes and bottle-nursing pups and kittens. Schools, hotels and restaurants stand by projects in order to support street animals. But they are so few in number that they are not enough to sustain.
Voluntariness requires awareness, consistency and responsibility. Being true animal lovers includes not only daily solutions like feeding and healing them but also permanent solutions such as preventing breeding, raising awareness and making preparations necessary for stray animals to live freely and happily on the streets.
At that point, a great idea, which is known as #beniunuttunuz (#youhaveforgottenme), was formulated in February with the leadership of Toprak Advertising Agency, the cooperation of the Association of Bodrum Animal Rights and the Municipality of Bodrum. It was quickly implemented.
In the multi-layered project to raise awareness of abandoned street animals, the first stage was to choose a group of dogs; shoot their videos, make social media posts with their stories and share them via social media with the tag #beniunuttunuz. The awareness was created with the help of the billboards and bus shelters who had a QR code linking to the stories of the dogs. At the last stage, the posters were placed on the well-trodden places of Bodrum.
This project, which has been conducted to be the voice of the abandoned dogs, to encourage people to adopt a pet instead of buying, to draw attention to the law that prevents the production, hosting and trade of dangerous animals and to defend the rights of these dogs, attracted considerable attention in a short time. If you wish to adopt an abandoned pet, you can contact with the social media accounts named @benunuttunuz.
My name is Snow. I am a young Dogo. I used to be the pet of a wealthy family in Istanbul. My owner used to go for a walk and show me off on Bagdat Street. Although he used to delay my vaccinations, food and treatments; he was my owner. I used to love and protect him no matter what. One day he had a girlfriend. When his girlfriend appeared to have allergies to dogs, we were on holiday in Bodrum. My owner quickly made his decision: They took me to the animal shelter in Bodrum and left me. Now it is forbidden for me to get out of the shelter as I am “dangerous”. I will spend the rest of my life in a small cage alone and die. #beniunuttunuz (#youhadforgottenme) but do not forget that: I am not the dangerous one but I will die in captivity.
We are originally from Sivas. I mean I am a purebred Sivas Kangal. My name is Zelish. My father (owner) and I used to live in a big house with a house. We first came to Bodrum this summer. My father used to be proud of me. He even put me in some dog contests. I got good grades. When it comes to protecting my home and family, no one is better than I am. My father did not want to neuter me. I suppose he wanted to sell my babies. He used to say that my care was too expensive anyway. We were on holiday in Bodrum when we got the news that I was pregnant. The doctor said I would have only one baby. That made my father so angry. He told the doctor that he did not want to take care of me for only one baby. He left me somewhere nearby where we stayed in Golkoy. I had a terrible accident. My front leg was shattered. I was brought to Torba Animal Shelter; however, my leg is still not right. I do not know how to protect my puppy. You have forgotten me (#beniunuttunuz) but what was my puppy’s fault? Have you also forgotten that?