While the construction of the Animal Shelter and Natural Living Area, which was rapidly put into practice by Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality in Sarısungur Neighborhood with the slogan We built it with compassion, we will keep it alive with love, continues at full speed, the natural living area has opened its doors. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce said, There is a serious blockage after the change in the stray animals law. While the animal shelter construction is ongoing, we decided to create a natural living area to overcome this blockage. With the protocol we signed with Tepebaşı and Odunpazarı municipalities, we planned to continue the neutering processes and take the animals whose rehabilitation process has been completed to this center. For this reason, we accelerated the process a little.
Taking action in line with the Law No. 7527 on Amendments to the Animal Protection Law, which entered into force in July 2024, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality is implementing an exemplary project in Türkiye in order to provide better living conditions for stray animals.
The groundwork for the first phase of the Animal Shelter and Natural Habitat, which will be built on a total of 67 acres of land, has been completed on 8 acres. The opening of the completed phase was held with a magnificent ceremony.
The opening was attended by Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce, Deputy Governor Adem Keleş, Local Reform Initiative Association President Murat Karayalçın, CHP Deputy İbrahim Arslan, Odunpazarı Mayor Kazım Kurt, Tepebaşı Mayor Ahmet Ataç, Beylikova Mayor Hakan Karabacak, Mihalıççık Mayor Haydar Çorum, Çifteler Mayor Zehra Konakcı, Seyitgazi Mayor Uğur Tepe, Eskişehir Bar Association President Barış Günaydın, Eskişehir Bilecik Region Veterinary Chamber President Erdinç Yuva, municipality bureaucrats, representatives of non-governmental organizations and many guests.
Speaking first at the ceremony, Eskişehir City Council Animal Rights Working Group President Ece Bilgin said, Our dear Ayşe Mayor, who has already established herself in the heart of Eskişehir; our slogan We did it with compassion, we will keep it alive with love is very beautiful. It is a slogan that came from the naive mothers heart of Ayşe Mayor. This center is entrusted to her warm mothers heart, we are sure. The negativities experienced in some cities will never be experienced here. This will be a home of compassion, a home of mercy. Mercy, love, conscience, which are longings that we do not see much in people anymore and are actually very befitting of humans, will live in this center.
Eskişehir Bilecik Region Veterinary Chamber President Erdinç Yuva stated that they are open to all kinds of cooperation with Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality and said, As veterinarians, I would like to express once again in your presence that we are ready to provide all kinds of support. Without further ado, I would like to say to our esteemed Mayor, thank goodness you exist. We are truly providing good services in this city together with your valuable support. We, veterinarians, are also ready for all kinds of services day and night, especially in these facilities.
Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Veterinary Affairs Department Head Nurben Fatma Koptekin said, Today, we are happy to open a healthy and safe living space that is compatible with nature in order to improve the living conditions of our dear stray friends. With the animal rights-sensitive and animal welfare-prioritizing approach of our Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce, we have brought this exemplary project to life together within the framework of the municipality approach that values this city and all living things living in this city. Our natural habitat is not only a place where animals gather; it will also be a symbol of compassion, responsibility and living together.
Murat Karayalçın, Founding President of the Local Reform Initiative Association, said, I congratulate our Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and especially our mayors in the central districts on this issue. I wholeheartedly congratulate our dear Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce and our valuable district mayors.
Deputy Governor Adem Keleş said, I find it very valuable that such a facility that will provide a very good service on the scale of Eskişehir is put into practice. I would like to thank our valuable municipality that has signed such a service. This facility was built by allocating treasury and forest lands. In addition, Tepebaşı Municipality and Odunpazarı Municipality have two separate animal shelters. However, these facilities are generally not sufficient. I believe that this newly opened facility will make a significant contribution in terms of sharing the burden.
Lastly, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce stated that the issue of stray animals is among the five most important problems for our country and said, An amendment has been made to the law on animal rights and animal protection. In the previous application, stray animals were collected, neutered, rehabilitated and adopted. Those who could not be adopted were returned to where they were taken. With the amendment, this return application was abolished. We encountered a serious problem after this change. However, since there is no longer a return application where you take them, the shelters are full. While the construction of the animal shelter is ongoing, we decided to create a natural habitat to overcome this congestion. With the protocol we signed with Tepebaşı and Odunpazarı municipalities, we planned to continue the neutering processes and take the animals whose rehabilitation process has been completed to this center. For this reason, we accelerated the process a little. Normally, the shelter is opened first, then the natural habitat. We applied this order in reverse. We would like to thank the Eskişehir Governorship for supporting us in the allocation of land, the City Council Animal Rights Working Group for supporting us at every stage of this facility, and the Chamber of Veterinarians. I would like to thank our president, the board of directors, all members and all employees of the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality family in your presence. Our council members in particular have been with us with great excitement since the first moment we started the project. We will also open the nursing home in the next few months. Thus, together with Tepebaşı and Odunpazarı Municipalities, we will continue to produce solutions to this problem in Eskişehir.
Emphasizing that the problems with stray animals start in the rural areas, Ünlüce said, It is not possible to solve this problem without solving the rural areas. Therefore, I would like to make a call again. A recommendation decision was made in the last meetings held under the coordination of our governorship. Although the law does not make this mandatory, it was suggested that 12 of our rural districts establish natural habitats. The sterilization procedures are planned to be carried out by our municipalities with a population of more than 25 thousand and then left in natural habitats to be established in rural districts. As I have stated many times before, not only municipalities, but all public institutions and organizations and civil society must fight together against one of the biggest problems of the country. Because we believe that the real value of a city is measured by the quality of life it offers not only to its people but to all living beings.
After the speeches, the participants toured the natural habitat.
Within the scope of the cooperation protocol signed by the Metropolitan Municipality with Odunpazarı and Tepebaşı Municipalities on April 14, 2025, stray dogs in the center and countryside of Eskişehir will be neutered and vaccinated and will be cared for in a natural habitat until they are adopted. In this context, a total of 50 dogs were initially brought to the natural habitat.
In addition, the necessary alloation procedures have been completed for the 60 thousand square meter area located to the north of the shelter and classified as a state forest to be used as a natural habitat. It is planned to house an average of 7 thousand dogs in this large area.