Residing in the Hasanoğlan neighborhood of Ankara's Elmadağ district, Müzeyyen Bozkurt, 54, who began taking care of two kittens and four dogs 40 years ago, now looks after 200 cats and 20 dogs. She said that her love for animals comes from her parents and has grown over the years, becoming a passion. "Whenever I see a stray animal hungry and thirsty, I feel terrible," she said. She said that when she sees animals suffering on the streets, she takes them to her home. Bozkurt said if the animals have any health problems, she takes them to a veterinarian after feeding them. "If necessary, I have them sterilized. There are hundreds of stray cats and dogs trying to survive in the streets. People should leave food and water at certain places to protect these animals from starvation." She said that most of the animals she has taken into her home were living on the streets or were exposed to violence. "Some of the animals that had stones thrown at them are either blind or have broken legs. Among the animals I take care of, there are two blind cats and one blind dog. People should not take animals into their homes if they are not capable of taking care of them," she said. She criticized people who give pets as gifts and said that expensive animals are hard to care for when they grow up. "When people cannot take care of them, they leave them on the streets. Those that cannot find food perish unless they come across animal-loving people like me," she said. Bozkurt said there are cats and dogs in every corner of her house. "These animals who I feed with pasta and meat every day are not hungry and they continue their lives happily. It saddens me to see them sick," she said. She urged people to leave their leftover food in the streets and asked them to be more sensitive to animals. "It is hard for these animals to survive without help from people," Bozkurt said, "All I want from animal-lovers is for them to support the animals that I take care with cat and dog food."
