‘Looking back it was only a matter of time that I’d relocate close to my family’s village in Northern Cyprus’, explains third generation Turkish Cypriot, Oljay Kemal, 54.
My grandad served in the second world war and bought my dad and his family to the UK back in the early 60s, back then around 30% came to live in the UK and the rest in Australia.
We lived in London, Canning Town in the East End where I grew up and went to school but we would always go back each year to the family’s home in Galateia on the Karpez Peninsula which stretches all the way from Famagusta. It’s a stunning place, still really untouched by tourism with some beautiful beaches and I used to love spending six weeks holiday there, it was a chance to reconnect with my roots and I can remember even then the amount of stray dogs and cats there were, just doing their best to survive.’
Oljay’s family had ice-cream vans and after finishing school he went on to become a London cabbie as well as helping out with the family businesses during busy summers.
‘It was COVID that changed my whole perspective on how I wanted to live my future life’, says Oljay.
I felt I really needed to reconnect to what I wanted to do – help animals and, most importantly, in my home country.
My Dad had given me a piece of land for me to build on at some time in the future and for the meantime had a place to stay to see just what could be done with all the dogs and cats roaming the streets with very little food and no one really wanting to take of them.’
Oljay explains:
It’s very different in Northern Cyprus to the UK: families do have cats and dogs but mostly leave them outside to live and very often allow them to roam the countryside and towns without them being neutered or spayed. They think it’s natural for dogs and cats to behave that way but when they come home pregnant, sadly and very often, that’s the time owners decide they don’t want their pets anymore because of the expense.’
As well as setting up an important rescue centre where he rounds up strays and uses his powerful social media including Facebook posts to help raise funds for important neutering and spaying operations, Oljay works tirelessly with his local council with the view to educate people about keeping dogs and cats.
He says: ‘It’s not that people should not have them just to realise that if they do have a pet, it really is for life and they should be much more responsible as to how they look after them.’
Oljay also works with a couple of other rescue and sanctuaries in Northern Cyprus and Turkey to help raise awareness too. It costs around £80 to have a dog spayed or neutered but it’s so important: however lovely puppies and kittens maybe to look at, the more we can stop being born unless they can be looked after in a loving home, the better.’
It’s hard work, never ending mopping up, feeding and weaning new pups but the rewards are amazing too, we do have a rehoming system in place now and have recently rehomed a gorgeous dog, Olive to an adoptive family in Essex.
Right now, we need more help than ever before, it’s been a seriously hot summer with some dangerous wildfires very close to our rescue centre that’s meant we’ve had to be even more vigilant about keeping our dogs and cats safe and rescuing others that might have become trapped.
Oljay was alerted to a stray about to give birth a few weeks ago.
‘We have a lot of German pointer and Retriever mix dogs here, they are very gentle but fairly big dogs and need a lot of feeding. Just a few days later she gave birth to 16 puppies, all beautiful and healthy, but that’s a lot of mouths to feed!
We also need to raise funds to have any animals in our care to have regular tick and worming treatments to stop them from becoming ill and needing more serious attention.
It is now Oljay’s goal to clear as many strays off the streets of Northern Cyprus as he can, to get them cleaned up, safe and hopefully rehomed.
He says: ‘My family and friends visit often from the UK and I go back too and although it’s tough being an animal activist, I would not have it any other way!’
To find out more about Oljay Kemal’s work in Northern Cyprus and to donate, visit Oljay’s Dog Cat Rescue Northern Cyprus on Facebook.
