” My roles over the years at KAR when I lived in North Cyprus were varied – puppy carer, centre administrator, meeter & greeter, office administrator & Facebook editor. So when I returned to the UK in 2018, there was really only one way I could continue to help KAR and that was with Facebook.
Social media is a great way of keeping our supporters up to date with happenings at the rescue centre and also appeals for help. This became particularly important during the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 & 2021 as the centre was closed during lockdown and there were no tourists visiting North Cyprus. A usually reliable source of income via donations from holidaymakers and visitors to the centre literally stopped overnight. As KAR relies solely on donations from supporters, we needed to appeal to our followers for much needed funds to help us care for the 300 plus dogs and cats at the rescue centre. That’s where Facebook really helped – we put out an appeal for funds and our wonderful supporters came to our rescue!
Facebook has also helped us find homes for a number of our dogs (and some cats as well!) Elaine, the centre supervisor, sends me videos of pups and adult dogs looking for homes, I compile a story about each of them and post them on Facebook. We’ve had quite a bit of success with the videos and have homed a number of dogs both in North Cyprus and the UK. Dogs that might otherwise still be at the centre so that’s a great result.
Social media is of course a 24 hour medium and enquiries can come through at any time of the day or night. It can be an appeal for help with a litter of puppies or an enquiry about pet travel – both of these are referred to our office in Girne. Or may be someone just wants directions to Gladrags or the rescue centre – something I can easily answer from the UK! The strangest request I’ve had was from a lady with an urgent appeal for a dog needing help, in a village that I hadn’t heard of. On checking the location on Google and the lady’s profile, it transpired that the village and the dog were in South Africa! Not sure where in the world the lady thought North Cyprus was!! I quickly replied and suggested that she try and find a rescue organisation a bit nearer to where she lived!
We are grateful to all our followers on Facebook for their support and also for sharing our posts, so the name of Kyrenia Animal Rescue becomes known to more and more people. Please keep following! “
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