Harsh winter conditions, which left people stranded on the roads across Turkey and challenged the plight of homeless people, also affected stray animals as well as birds living in the open. As snowfall blanketed the ground, their access to food and water became significantly reduced. In many areas, dependence on good Samaritans remains their only chance for survival.
Nowadays, everyone, including animal lovers acting on their own and government and charities working to keep them alive, is delivering food to remote areas as well as leaving it on the streets of big cities where dogs and cats struggle to survive.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is at the forefront of the efforts. Since December, the ministry’s crews have dispatched some 330 tons of food for wild animals and birds across the country. Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli personally delivered supplies to a rural area of the capital Ankara’s Beypazarı district on Wednesday. The state of wild animals is constantly monitored through cameras set up in their habitats and crews regularly replenish their food stocks. In some places, like a national park in the central province of Kayseri, drones are used to pinpoint the exact location of wild animals, like mountain goats, to deliver food.
In the eastern province of Muş, where a thick layer of snow about 80 centimeters (31.4 inches) deep covered the province, birds found a haven in a factory producing animal feed. On Wednesday, a large flock of birds "surrounded" the factory, whose owner and staff left bird food outside. “Pigeons come here every winter, and we give them grain and corn,” factory owner Salih Dalkaya told Demirören News Agency (DHA).
Authorities also seek to provide shelter to animals affected by the cold weather. In the eastern province of Bingöl, several injured donkeys abandoned by their owners, were accommodated at a stable after they were found shivering and on the brink of death in a village.
