In the middle of Esentepe village you can find Gabriel’s Garden Centre. It’s Liz and Peter who takes care of everything; they are from Great Britain but have been here for a long time. They rented the premises about 3 years ago and provide everything that has to do with gardens and plants and they also offer landscaping, design and looking after your garden if needed.
I like to frequent this small oasis in the middle of the village because they not only give you good advice about your garden they also look after all the street cats in the village. They have given them food and water ever since they started their business. It is admirable work, the cats are many and the need is huge. Normally there are cats all over the place but when I came in the early hours of the morning, most cats where elsewhere so I only managed to catch a shy male cat on picture.
Now they have launched a charity campaign to have the cats spayed and they get help from my favourite veterinarian Niyazi who I’ve written about before (Niyazi has Pet Line). There is no official organization, but only some cat lovers who are passionate about cats and their wellbeing.
They are accepting gifts which are then sold for a small sum and the money goes straight to the cats. There are clothes, Swimsuits, shoes, bags and books. Some hand made things have also been donated. I usually take with me a bag of books that I’ve finished for the cats, and then I buy a new load from their collection. There are enough books for all tastes, thrillers, romance, and non-fiction books. Prices are from 50 Turkish kurus to about 2 TL.
It is so nice to finally be able to get hold of books easily and to know that I am contributing to the cat’s wellbeing.
I hope that this form of animal help spreads because then we would perhaps be able to get the problem of stray animals to reduce radically.
Donations are happily received; Peter’s telephone number is 0533 822 3113, this is also the contact number for the Garden Centre.
