Street dog howled warning before quake killed thousands in Turkey & Syria

At least 65 search-and-rescue dogs are now on site

GAZANTIEP, Turkey––A lone street dog,  perhaps a Kangal mix,  howling in an intersection like an air raid siren shortly after four o’clock in the morning on February 6,  2023,  appears to be already the most enduring image from an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on the Richter scale that hit soon afterward.

The earthquake,  and an aftershock of 7.5 on the Richter scale that struck nine hours later,  killed at least 46,000 people in Turkey and Syria,  with the toll expected to soar as high as 56,000 as an estimated 45,000 emergency responders dig farther into the rubble.

At least 24,921 buildings reportedly collapsed in Turkey alone.

“We have little reason to doubt,”  says Snopes

Security video showing the dog,  with the sound of the howling,  was posted first to TikTok by a user using the address @solist.zamira.

A slightly longer version videotaped from a different angle was posted soon afterward by a second TikTok user using the address @straybeautiful.

The two video clips,  between them,  were viewed more than 40 million times in less than two days.

Jordan Liles,  self-introduced as “a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation,  inauthentic social media activity,  and scams,”  translated words shown on signs in the video clips from Turkish to English,  noting in particular a sign reading “Eczane,  the Turkish word for pharmacy,”  and that “a mosque also appears to be visible on the left side of the frame.”

“We’re continuing to look into this matter,”  Liles finished,  “and will update this story in the future.  So far,  we have little reason to doubt the fact that this video was recorded in the hours before the earthquake struck.”

News scarce

The epicenter of the earthquake,  just north of the city of Gazantiep,  is 700 road miles southeast of Istanbul,  near the Syrian border––a region overwhelmed in recent years by as many as 3.6 million refugees from civil war in Syria,  already suffering from disease outbreaks and an unusually severe winter.

Tens of thousands of people reportedly remain missing beneath debris.  Roads in and out of the region are blocked both by rubble and by residents fleeing the devastation amid aftershocks.

Water supplies in the often drought-stricken area are spilled from community cisterns or contaminated,  hospitals destroyed,  electrical lines and cell phone towers toppled,  and the nearest seaport to Gazantiep,  at Iskenderun is closed due to fires started by the earthquakes.

Animal-related news from the earthquake zone remains scarce.  Indeed,  almost any news is scarce.

Dogs & Turkish animal charities mobilize

En route to the region,  however,  are reportedly 16 search-and-rescue dogs from Mexico,  14 from Switzerland,  10 from Croatia,  eight from Poland,  six from the U.S.,  five from Taiwan,  four from the United Kingdom,  and two from Greece,  along with their handlers and additional search-and-rescue personnel.

Mobilizing to help both humans and animals in the crisis were at least two indigenous Turkish animal advocacy groups,  Hayvan Hakları Federasyonu,  a traditional animal welfare society better known as HAYTAP,  and Turkey Animal Save,  a younger vegan and animal rights organization inspired by Toronto Pig Save,  founded in 2010 by Anita Krajnc.

(See How phantoms spooked agribusiness into failed Krajnc case against watering pigs.)

HAYTAP sends a team

HAYTAP has facilities in Osmaniye,  a city and province just west of Gazantiep.

“Our Haytap Osmaniye treatment clinic is in good condition,”  HAYTAP announced via Facebook on February 7,  2023.  “No damage to our retired animal farm. Injured animals will be taken care of.  We are trying to get organized.”

A series of brief updates followed.

“There are currently 15-20 volunteers going there,”  HAYTAP said next.  “But because of limited government help for rescuing trapped people under the buildings,  people are even asking for help from us to rescue them.  Our seven vehicles set off with supplies,  medicines,  food,  tents and other equipment via Istanbul,  Ankara,  Bursa,  Antalya,  Bitlis,  Zonguldak and Iğdır.”

“Receiving distress calls”

Elaborated HAYTAP later,  “We are trying to do our best to help both animals and humans.  We are receiving distress calls from individuals trying to rescue their trapped animals from all the affected cities.”

Appealed HAYTAP several hours after that,  “We know that our friends who have animals in disaster areas,  especially at home,  are having a hard time finding shelter.  Our friends who can open their homes to host our animal-owner friends,  and our brothers and sisters in need who cannot find shelter with their pawed friends,  please contact us.”

By nightfall,  HAYTAP updated,  “Our field team and materials have started to arrive in Hatay,  the easternmost Turkish province in the disaster area,  whose capital city,  Antakya,  was all but destroyed,  with the runways at the airport cracked,  buried in snow,  and unusable.

“Cold is hell”

“We will save as many as we can,”  HAYTAP pledged.  “Tomorrow we are setting up our tent in the center of Antakya.  Our veterinary teams,  trained friends,  and doctors will be on the field. We will help both human and animal friends.”

Responded HAYTAP member Erdem Demirci,  “I am in Hatay right now.  Many wrecks [of buildings] have not been reached yet.  We had a very cold night.  May God help everyone!  No electricity!  No water,  please be informed!  Hurry as you can.  Cold is hell.”

Turkey Animal Save

Palliative care nurse and vegan activist Lea Goodett,  of Zoetermeer,  Zuid-Holland,  the Netherlands,  posted a GoFundMe appeal on behalf of Turkey Animal Save.

“Turkey Animal Save has many years of experience helping stray animals and has lots of connections with local animal rescue organizations in the affected areas,”  Goodett testified.

“As part of Animal Save Movement they have helped animals in need for years.”

According to the Animal Save Movement web site,  “In Turkey,  there are one or more of [affiliated] animal,  health,  and climate groups in Istanbul, Ankara,  Izmir,  Eskişehir and Şanlıurfa.  Our chapter Ankara Animal Save is on the ground helping nonhuman animals victims of the recent earthquake.”

Updated Animal Save Turkey spokesperson Nilgün Engin in an email to ANIMALS 24-7,  “Two of our organizers are in the region.  We are collecting information from social media to locate the animals in need.  Yesterday two trucks started their rescue mission in collaboration with other animal rights activists.

“We have started fundraising as well,”  Nilgün Engin added.  “We are trying to find a vet in Hatay specifically as it is one of the worst-affected regions.”

Dutch relief effort proceeds without Linda Taal

The Dutch animal relief effort in Turkey,  led by Goodet,  was meanwhile without the Dutch activist most experienced in working there,  Stichting ActieZwerfhonden founder Linda Taal,  who died on February 4,  2022,  after 20 years’ involvement in Turkey,  shortly after the death of her husband.

Taal began by flying street dogs from Turkey to the Netherlands for adoption,  but gradually came to realize that rehoming all of the estimated three million street dogs in Turkey would be impossible,  and in 2009 turned to “organizing,  financing,  and supervising sterilization campaigns on site,”  the Stichting ActieZwerfhonden memorialized.

Animals Lebanon

Animals Lebanon,  in a nation also overwhelmed with refugees from the Syrian civil war and domestic issues,  “stands in solidarity with Turkey and Syria following the devastating earthquake that took the lives of thousands of people and made others homeless,”  general manager Jason Meier and founder Maggie Shaarawi  posted to social media.

“Our thoughts are with everyone touched by this devastation,”  Meier and Shaarawi added,  having had experience with similar devastation on a more local scale after 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the post of Beirut on August 4,  2020.

“The impact of the earthquake was so strong it was severely felt in Lebanon and nearby countries,”  Meier and Shaarawi said.

“In Lebanon,  people woke up in shock and some were at a loss what to do for their safety and that of their family and pets,”  Meier and Shaarawi added

Animals Lebanon posted a list of recommended preparations for disaster for pet-keepers to follow.

(See The Beirut explosion one year later, by Jason Mier, Animals Lebanon.)

IFAW is first international charity to respond

The first major international animal charity to announce a response to the Turkish and Syrian earthquake was the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

“As humanitarian efforts are underway,  IFAW is preparing to rush emergency support to local organizations in Turkey and Syria to help the many animals impacted,”  IFAW announced.

“We are also working with organizations that we have previously supported in the region,  like House of Cats Ernesto,”  the only known animal sanctuary in Syria,  “to identify what support they might need.”

IFAW in 2020 “purchased supplies for the House of Cats Ernesto,”  IFAW explained,  after the facilities were “destroyed due to the civil war.  We provided daily care supplies and essential veterinary medicines for the organization’s animals.”

Observations from a reader

Among the keen U.S. observers of the earthquake relief efforts was ANIMALS 24-7 reader Sharon Page,  who lived in Kadikoy,  Turkey,  a suburb of Istanbul,  from 2007 to 2012,  and visited the disaster region during her time there.

“From my years in Turkey,  I’m sure there were thousands of both domestic and street animals killed during the earthquakes,”  Page emailed.

“Cats as indoor pets are almost as common in Turkey as in the U.S.,  though indoor pet dogs are only maybe a tenth as popular.”

Both feral cats and street dogs roam in abundance throughout Turkey.

Feeders

“In general,”  Page observed,  “the street animals there are not mistreated or abused,  but are treated the way many people treat back yard squirrels.  They are considered wild animals and they are on their own,  other than some people putting out food for them.

“On every block,”  Page added,  “there are a few people who regularly walk a route and put out food for the street cats,  and butchers routinely put out offal/bones for the street dogs.

“With the current situation,”  Page said,  “I’m sure the people on each block are out looking for ‘their’ strays and putting out food,  but some of those people may themselves be dead or may not have access to stores where they can buy cat food right now.

“Surviving pets and strays will almost certainly be depending on those friendly neighborhood cat feeders for the next few weeks,”  Page finished.

Feral cats & street dogs tend to fare better than displaced humans

ANIMALS 24-7,  however,  has observed after countless other disasters worldwide that usually the feral cats and street dogs fare much better than displaced humans,  being better adapted by nature to living outdoors,  hunting and scavenging for food.

Typically a disaster includes massive spoilage of human food supplies,  amid the destruction of stores and loss of refrigeration resulting from electrical outages.  Much of this food waste is accessible to animals,  especially rodents,  the primary prey for feral cats and a major food source for street dogs as well.

What the feral cats and street dogs need most from humans,  in the wake of a disaster especially,  is parasite treatment,  to cope with intestinal parasites ingested from eating rotting meat and from consuming rodents who have themselves eaten rotting meat.

“No animal left behind” in 1999,  boasts Turkish newspaper

The pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah,  meanwhile,  recalling the devastation resulting from a 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Izmir on August 17,  1999,  boasted that then,  “No animal was left behind as rescuers raced against the clock to extract survivors from the rubble,”  detailing the rescues of six cats,  a dog,  a rabbit,  and a budgerigar.

“The most touching rescue,”  Daily Sabah said,  “was of an unnamed cat by a rescue dog called Bob.  Defying conventional cat-dog relations,  Bob pulled the feline to safety after she had been buried in the remains of an apartment building for 32 hours with the cat later garnering the name “Umut” (Hope) by rescue workers at the scene.”

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