Monday 12 May 2014

Introducing Marmaris Dog Shelter


The Marmaris Dog Shelter in Turkey was built in 2005 and was originally designed to house 150 dogs. Today it has over 250 dogs in its care, with new arrivals constantly being admitted.

The shelter is run by a group of volunteers across several nationalities, all working to improve the lives of the animals in Marmaris. Their aims and ongoing objectives include:

  Caring for sick animals, administering medication and taking them to private vets when necessary, which is paid for by fundraising schemes.

  Supplementing the inadequate food allowance with supplies provided by fundraising. Volunteers visit the Shelter for three hours each day to ensure equal distribution of food, and provision of supplementary feeding for weak or nursing dogs.

  Creating separate areas for weak dogs, mothers with puppies, orphaned puppies and sick animals. Volunteers are building more covered areas and kennels to provide extra shelter as well as maintaining and repairing broken doors, fences, bolts etc

  Finding suitable, temporary foster homes for recovering animals and orphaned puppies.

  Finding permanent adoptive homes both in Turkey and other countries, with a follow-up system for dogs leaving the shelter.


To achieve all of this it is necessary for the volunteers of Marmaris to constantly hold fundraising events, ranging from raffles, sponsored events and table-top sales to encouraging ongoing donations to the scheme.

Volunteers often provide essentials out of their own pockets and desperately need your help to improve the lives of the stray and abandoned dogs of Turkey, where the government policy is to trap, neuter and then release dogs (TNR).

Perhaps you will be traveling to Turkey this year for your annual holiday or for business purposes. Marmaris is a popular tourist destination, with many clubs and bars, aquaparks and local entertainment and is renowned for its sailing centre. Add to this the friendliness of the locals and you have the makings of a great holiday. But please, whilst enjoying all that Marmaris has to offer, spare a thought for the dogs and volunteers of the Marmaris Dog Shelter and help them in any way that you can.

You can find the shelter at:
Marmaris Hayvan Rehabilitasyon Merkezi
Otogar Yani
Marmaris – 48700

Or find out more at:
Follow on Twitter @MarmarisAnimals

You can read more about how to help the many dog rescue shelters across Europe by visiting www.dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk
You can also contact us via  replies@dogwelfarenetwork.co.uk