After a natural disaster, who cares for the animals? Meet Mehmet T谋臒o臒lu.
| Antakya, Turkey
The dog鈥檚 golden coat should be shiny. It should be soft. But it鈥檚 matted and slicked with what turns out to be engine oil.
Mehmet G眉rkan T谋臒o臒lu arrives on the scene 鈥� the perimeter of a 鈥渃ontainer city鈥� erected after the devastating earthquake Feb. 6 that leveled the ancient city of Antakya in southern Turkey.
He had received a call 鈥� one of dozens that make his phone buzz daily 鈥� about a dog in distress. So he suited up in his blue uniform for Haytap, the name of the Turkish animal rescue organization he鈥檚 been volunteering for in the quake鈥檚 aftermath.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAmid the human death tolls in natural disasters, animals are often an afterthought. But some aid workers make a point to prioritize care for lost pets.
Mr. T谋臒o臒lu doesn鈥檛 warm up quickly in human interaction 鈥� although he eventually does 鈥� but with animals it鈥檚 immediate. 鈥淗ey baby,鈥� he says, calming the male dog down, leashing and muzzling him, and putting him in the back of his pickup truck until he can find him some relief.
The work of animal rescue after a disaster is uniquely taxing. Amid high death tolls 鈥� in this case at least 50,000 people across Turkey and Syria 鈥� animals are often an afterthought. 鈥淧eople say I鈥檓 the crazy one,鈥� he says. But he says he is not indifferent to the needs of humans.
After the earthquake, he helped rescue them, too. It鈥檚 just that he is as keenly aware of the deprivation of the stray cats and dogs and injured hawks and donkeys that are stuck in rubble, struck by cars, separated from their mothers, injured, dehydrated, or starving now. 鈥淲e domesticated them; now we can鈥檛 leave them by themselves. This is what we did to them, so this is what we have to do for them,鈥� he says.
Much of the focus on animals after disaster happens in the immediate days following, when pets are separated from their owners, says Felipe Marquez of the Humane Society International in Mexico. He was deployed to Antakya the week after the earthquake, helping to rescue dogs, cats, bunnies, reptiles, and even a bowl of goldfish that remained intact while the residence around it had been destroyed.
鈥淭his work is so important,鈥� he says. 鈥淚magine a person who has lost everything. To find their pet gives them one small hope, so that they can continue surviving.鈥�
But then the 鈥渇eel-good鈥� stories end, and media attention wanes. Ownerless pets roam the streets, and a fragile society is taxed as needs mount. Sometimes survivors can no longer afford to care for their pets. Animals, well loved in Turkey, become a nuisance, another challenge at an unbelievably challenging time. And international rescue crews leave.
That鈥檚 when the steady hand and constant presence of Mr. T谋臒o臒lu, who eschews the term 鈥渁nimal lover鈥� or 鈥渁nimal activist,鈥� becomes key. 鈥淲e would not know how to continue to work there without Mehmet鈥檚 support,鈥� says Tom Terveer, who, along with his wife, Babette, was one of the co-founders of the German animal rescue group Notpfote (or 鈥淧aw in Need鈥� in English), which financially supports Haytap鈥檚 rescue work. 鈥淗e is the last frontier between life and death for most of the animals there. He鈥檚 doing everything for the animals.鈥�
鈥淵ou can only cry about what has happened in Antakya,鈥� says Ms. Terveer, who has been working on animal rescue in Ukraine but has visited Turkey alongside Mr. Terveer 10 times since the earthquake. 鈥淭hose people are forgotten; the animals are forgotten.鈥�
Mr. T谋臒o臒lu and other rescuers have entered about 400 destroyed buildings since Feb. 6, saving roughly 2,000 animals, often at great danger to themselves, especially as aftershocks continue.
In the early days, Mr. Marquez says pet owners recorded their voices on his phone, and he鈥檇 walk around damaged buildings playing the recordings to lure their animals out. Today Mr. T谋臒o臒lu drives through the devastated town with a recording of a kitten calling its mother to draw stray cats out to make sure they鈥檙e getting enough food.
The other day he and Hakan Tanriover, a young Turkish man volunteering at Mr. T谋臒o臒lu鈥檚 side, helped escort several cows out from rubble in the hills of Hatay province, building a tunnel to guide them 鈥� not just a humane gesture, but also central to the economy of families who have no other income. It took 10 hours. Mr. T谋臒o臒lu often takes calls in the middle of the night. 鈥淓veryone has his number,鈥� says Mr. Tanriover.
The dog he has helped rescue today has mange. An unknowing local resident thought that oil would kill the mites, but it only made a hungry and dehydrated animal more agitated. He and Mr. Tanriover take him 鈥� Mr. T谋臒o臒lu never names an animal, but the ever-cheerful Mr. Tanriover does, already naming two dogs that week Molly and Pirate 鈥� to a desolate patio where a rescued pit bull is also living, until they can find a long-term solution.
鈥淭hey need a field where they can touch the earth, but this is the best we can do for now,鈥� Mr. Tanriover says. 鈥淭hese animals can鈥檛 find water; they can鈥檛 even find dirty water.鈥�
Later, they visit the city鈥檚 animal shelter, where dogs are separated by gender, size, and need: mothers with pups, young dogs, big male dogs. Mr. T谋臒o臒lu refuses to enter because he knows he can鈥檛 help them now, and that鈥檚 too hard to bear.
He has done the work of animal rescue after floods, wildfires, and other earthquakes in Turkey. But he says he has never seen destruction on this scale. He has no plans to leave. 鈥淚 see two roads. The first is giving up and stopping caring,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he second is to continue on, to not feel sorry for the ones you could not rescue, but to be proud of the ones that you did rescue and that are still alive.鈥�
