Simba is  the sweet little survivor who started it all.  She was rescued from a shelter run by an "animal welfare" group in Istanbul and rehomed in with a caring person in Istanbul where she lived out the remainder of her days.  In her honor, Let’s Adopt!, a Facebook-based group, was born, motivated by one single goal: to help animals in need in Turkey.  Turkey has animal welfare laws in place, but they are routinely violated by the very institutions (such as the the municipal shelters
where dogs like Simba are being dropped every day) that were created to enforce them.  

Let’s Adopt! is run and funded exclusively by volunteers with no affiliation with any Turkish or international groups to guarantee that they can remain free to take action where needed, no matter what powers are aligned against them. They work under the nom de guerre "Viktor Larkhill", an imaginary superhero who wears a mask. This single face was chosen to emphasize the unity of the group and  "Viktor" represents all the volunteers and supporters that make Let's Adopt! possible. At this time, there are 22,000 members, 90% in Turkey, but expanding in:

-- US (San Francisco and New York just launched)

-- Canada (800 members)

-- South Africa (650 members)

-- Germany (just launched, barely 100)

-- Spain (growing at a rate of 100 people daily)

And this is just the beginning.

The main activities of the group are fostering and rehoming animals and publicizing cases of animal maltreatment in Turkey through "naming and shaming" those responsible.  Let's Adopt! has strict conditions regarding the adoption of its rescued animals to help guarantee appropriate placement such as:

1. Prospective adoptors should have at least one other animal under their care, and be able to demonstrate their ability to take care of animals through their history with this already existing animal

2. Should a prospective adoptor live in a home with a garden, he or she should guarantee that the animal to be adopted through Let’s Adopt will live inside the home as opposed to the garden only.

3. Individuals who adopt an animal through Let’s Adopt agree to create a photograph album later on that contains images from the new life of the animal to be shared with all members of the network and to be published on our blog

4. Let’s Adopt is entirely about rescued animals and animals in need. It does not assist individuals who are seeking to adopt a particular breed or an animal with particular characteristics. Inquiries of this sort will simply be ignored.

Today Let's Adopt has over 25 animals in foster situations and is unable to accept any new rescues due to financial and logistic difficulties, but with the help of caring and dedicated people they hope to change that.  They are seeking the following assistance from animal lovers everywhere:

Logistics: a team of at least two people to handle occasional transports of animals from their current location to their foster/final homes, veterinarians, pensions, airport

Heatlh-care: at least two people to answer email questions related to health -care and/or direct those questions to our approved vets. Also to keep track of the animals we currently have in clinics across the country.

Hospitality: at least two people to coordinate our network of foster homes and pensions. Keep updated track of which ones are available and which ones are not as well as help us increase the network of foster homes and pensions in Istanbul and in other cities.

Education and Culture: two people to help run our blog. The text will still be produced by Viktor Larkhill but we will give administrative powers to two volunteers who will be in charge of expanding its audience as well as moderate answers/postings.

Finance: at least two people coordinate payments and raise funds.  Also, any low- to no-cost fundraising ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated

If you would like to become involved with Let's Adopt! and help them growor learn more about the great work they are doing for the animals of Turkey,

Please visit: http://letsadopt.wordpress.com/

Join the group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Sahip-Ckalm-Lets-Adopt/22649861613?ref=ts

E-mail the mysterious, masked "Viktor" v.larkhill@googlemail.com

Let’s Adopt is about building new bridges – one animal at a time, one individual at a time – to connect a new generation of animal activists in Turkey with one another and leave the old guard behind.

Photo: Simba