About us

Some dogs have a home. Others only have the luck that a person doesn’t look away.

It was for exactly these dogs that Tierhilfe Izmir was founded in 2012. Our goal was to support the Şopengazi shelter, built back in 2005 by the extraordinary animal rescuer Nebiha Deprem. At the time, around 3,000 dogs lived in the shelter and its surroundings. For many of them, this place was their only chance to survive.

With Nebiha Deprem’s death in 2018, animal welfare in Izmir lost a brave fighter. Soon after, the shelter was taken over by the city of İzmir. Our support for that project ended – but our responsibility for the animals did not.

Because while much changed, one woman stayed true to the dogs: Hatice Şenoğul.

Day after day she is out on the road. She feeds street dogs, drives to the forest dogs, cares for sick and injured animals and opens her own home to those nobody else wants. Regardless of weather, holidays or personal hardship, she makes sure countless dogs can be certain of at least one thing: today they will not go hungry.

The fates of the so-called listed dogs move us especially. Many of them were close to being put down. Together we were able to save these dogs and give them a future. With Hatice they found not only protection, but for the first time in their lives safety, care and love.

But our help does not end at her front door. Every day countless dogs in the forests around Izmir need to be cared for. They wait for food, for water and for a person who has not forgotten them. For many, this daily care is the difference between life and death.

On a neighbouring farm live eight Kangal dogs who are especially close to our hearts. When we first met them, they were in a shattering condition. They were fed only a little bread and suffered the consequences of years of neglect. Today we supply them regularly with eight sacks of high-quality dog food and help give them a more dignified life.

Every bowl we fill, every medical treatment we make possible and every animal we rescue is only possible through the support of animal-loving people. Behind every donation stands a dog who gets fed. Behind every sponsorship stands a life that gets to go on.

The dogs cannot ask for help. So we do it for them.

Together we can give them hope – with every donation, every sponsorship and every form of support. Because every animal deserves the chance at a life without hunger, fear and suffering.