Hi my name is Alexandra and I am doing this fund raiser for a very special community dog, Kalkan Katie!

I met Katie a year or so after I moved from UK to Kalkan 6 years ago, and it was love at first sight! Not only was she absolutely beautiful, she had the sweetest soul and gentle nature, I could describe her as a baby in a big body!!

Since then when she saw me, she would run (or gallop) over to me and jump up, paws on my shoulders and face right in my face! What a greeting!

I also learned that she was very popular with the locals and also visitors that came year after year, who looked forward to seeing her again! She always had such an incredibly happy spirit, which made you smile as soon as you saw her in her usual patch, together with her doggy friends, and for a dog living on the streets and the hard life that is dealt for them, she was genuinely a very happy girl…

And then came in the new law, to remove ALL dogs from the streets, dogs that had spent their lives being fed, cared for, and of course… being free…

Imagine suddenly being taken away from everything you know, the people, the places, where they felt safe, where they were free… and locked up in a shelter with dogs they didn’t know, finding their place in the pecking order with lots of other dogs in the same pen, whether it’s a fight for food, hierarchy or just out of frustration being in that awful environment… it is truly terrifying and absolutely devastating and it continues to this day, with no end in sight for these poor defenceless souls..

I had not seen Katie for about three weeks, I didn’t know why or where she was, it was very out of character for her not to be in her usual patches… I go to the shelter twice a week and I didn’t see her there either, but then at that time there was 900 dogs! Until one day just as I was leaving the shelter, I was walking past one of the pens and for some reason something made me look over, and there she was.. I broke down then and there…I called her name, she looked confused at first, then she realised it was me, a familiar friendly face, she came up to the bars and just pawed at them, crying… trying to get to me, to take her out and back to her ‘home’….

This went on for almost a year… breaking my heart every time…

The worst was yet to come!! The shelter was massively overcrowded, new dogs arriving every day, every week! A selection of 200 dogs were transferred to a shelter in Antalya, or rather a large area of land, to try and control the shelter capacity…it is literally like no man’s land, the dogs are just left with no human interaction, no chance of adoption, just left completely and utterly alone … and Katie was one of these dogs… it would have totally broken her spirit and I and many others could not believe this was to be her fate…

And now for the GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!

Katie has been offered a home in UK

A truly wonderful lady, who has adopted two Kalkan dogs herself, knew someone who could give Katie the home she has always deserved, and it was the best news we could have wished for!!

Katie has now been collected from Antalya, she is back at Kaş shelter and will hopefully go into a foster home as soon as possible… and here is why we need your help!

Katie will need her foster fees, vaccinations and travel costs covered, so if you are able to contribute any amount, it will be worth every penny getting this girl to her forever home, where she will be loved, safe, and be able to reignite that happy spirit!

THANK YOU