In Izmir, western Türkiye, a group of volunteers is working to rescue and treat animals that managed to survive recent forest fires, helping them recover and relocate to safe habitats.
Following a call on social media by the Projects for Animals Association (HIPDER) and the Afalina Animal Rights Community, around 100 volunteers gathered in a fire-affected forest area in the Buca district on July 5.
Most of the volunteers had never met each other before. In small groups, they searched through areas where fire containment and cooling efforts had been completed, looking for any signs of life among the ashes. During the search, they rescued one striped viper, two sheltopusiks (legless lizards) and two tortoises.
A veterinarian in the group treated injured animals on the spot, while healthy ones were placed in temporary cages and taken under protection for relocation to suitable environments.
HIPDER founder Funda Bonomo said that the public response to their call for help was overwhelming.
“We wanted to rescue animals that couldn’t escape the fire but somehow survived, and get them to safety or provide medical care if needed,” Bonomo said.
“We made a call and got an amazing response – around 100 people, complete strangers, showed up today. We gathered here and did great work. We rescued four or five living creatures so far, and the work isn’t over yet – we may find more,” she said.
Bonomo emphasized that saving even a single living creature makes all the effort worthwhile. “Just seeing one live animal and being able to save it makes everything worth it, spending the day here, getting tired. We’re truly happy. Because if we hadn’t come today, that animal might have died tomorrow from hunger or thirst," she explained.
She continued, "The fact that these animals suffer and die in their own habitats due to people’s irresponsibility or perhaps their greed is a terrible injustice. It breaks our hearts.”
Volunteer Izgen Cebbar shared how deeply she was affected upon seeing the scorched forest and emphasized the unity that formed among those trying to save the animals.
“Everyone gave their all to save even a single animal. We saw a lizard up on the hill and ran after it with all our energy. We were all drenched in sweat, just trying to pull it out of the darkness. This has been a really tough period for our country,” she said.
Cebbar called for strict adherence to fire prevention measures, stressing that many creatures lost their lives in the fires.
Another volunteer, Tolga Çevik, expressed his dismay at the large amounts of waste they found while working in the burned forest.
“Even deep in the forest, there are bottles, garbage someone even dumped a toilet. The forest is already ashes. That’s a tragedy in itself. The earth is burned. But what I don’t understand is why there is so much trash here? Why do we treat nature this way?” he asked.
“Maybe some disasters happen naturally, but we humans are laying the groundwork for them. We’re planting the seeds of destruction. I think we’re actively creating the conditions for fires and other disasters to occur. It’s a serious environmental crisis that we, as humans, are enabling,” Çevik said.
Türkiye has faced an intense wildfire season over the last week, with Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumaklı reporting a total of 3,044 fires since the beginning of the year, including 1,305 in forested areas.
In just the past week, 624 wildfires broke out across the country, nearly one-fifth of this year’s total, with 621 already brought under control. Supported by the largest air and ground firefighting fleet in the nation’s history, including 25,000 personnel and extensive aircraft operations, authorities continue to battle blazes in critical regions such as Izmir, Sakarya, and Hatay, amid challenging weather conditions and ongoing risks.
