Two massive quakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 killed more than 40,000 people in Türkiye and about 5,800 in Syria, but thousands of lives have also been rescued, including hundreds of trapped cats, dogs, rabbits and birds cherished by residents in the disaster zones.
With helmets and flashlights, rescuers continue to hear the cries of people along with animals trapped in collapsed houses after the earthquakes hit 10 Turkish cities on Feb. 6.
Among the affected cities, the historic city of Antakya in Hatay province was devastated by the twin quakes, but volunteers rescued Asghar and Nouma, two pit bulls trapped under the rubble. Nazli Yenocak, an earthquake victim and the owner of the two dogs, considers herself one of the lucky ones as her family of six is safe, although they live in a tent in the middle of the garden. Yet, Yenocak was distressed. Her normally noisy pit bulls were hardly make any sound.
"To hear them so quiet, it makes me cry," she said.
For 11 days, Yenocak fed them through a basement window. She then contacted rescuers at Haytap for help to save them. Hours later, they rescued the trapped pair with the help of German and Austrian volunteers.
Haytap, a Turkish animal protection association, has rescued 900 cats, dogs, rabbits, cows and even birds from the rubble in Antakya after receiving calls from tearful owners or neighbors. There is relief at the volunteer camp, where each rescued animal is treated like a rock star, filmed by several with mobile phones and welcomed with applause.
Volunteers treated five chow-chow dogs first then took them to a shelter away from the debris. The next day, a husky with bright blue eyes and several other puppies brought some cheer with their high-pitched barks.
In Haytap's tent where vets provide care, a litter of kittens sleeps soundly, at times bottle fed by volunteers.
Sometimes over the past two weeks, the only signs of life in Antakya among the rubble have been animals: a dog dozing near a destroyed sofa, a cat grooming itself in a shattered kitchen. One man saved from the rubble two days after the quake who became a rescuer took care of a black kitten, found near a collapsed building. "His owner fled. He stayed here. So we feed him."
A few streets away, a large dog stirs and barks on the first floor of a ruined building. "He could come down, but he stays out of loyalty to his owners," said Efe Subasi, 27, a Haytap volunteer who came after a neighbor informed him of the situation.
Animal rescue stories are a balm for the country, left in shock by the worst natural disaster in Türkiye's post-Ottoman history. One cat in Gaziantep named "Enkaz" ("Rubble") has become an online hero after images showed the animal refusing to leave his rescuer's side.
Stuck under debris, cats and dogs are able to crawl to food or a fridge, giving them enough nourishment to survive longer, said Mehti Fidan, head of a veterinary unit from Istanbul that has treated 300 animals in Antakya. "But when they come to us, the cats have dilated pupils. The dogs refuse to be approached. They are traumatized, just like humans," he said.
Sometimes their presence can frustrate rescue teams. Thermal scanners cannot differentiate between animal or human body temperatures. "After several hours, we found a cat, which once free, ran away without even a 'miaow' for us," said one foreign rescuer who did not wish to be named.
Nine days after the quake, however, rescuers found a baby alive in Antakya thanks to a neighbor searching for a cat, CNN Turk channel reported.
For Erol Donmezer, he is worried as he still hasn't found his son's cat. "They just amputated my son's two legs," Donmezer said. "After the operation, he said to me, 'Dad, all I want is for you to bring my cat back.'"
