Amid Quake’s Devastation, Parallel Rescue Bid Targets Pets

Mehmet Gurkan, a member of the Turkish animal rights group HAYTAP, rescues a dog that was trapped for seven days inside a house affected by the earthquake in Antakya, southeastern Türkiye, on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. (AP)

Six days after the earthquake that flattened parts of Türkiye and Syria, two survivors emerged from the rubble. They were dogs, the focus of a parallel rescue effort underway.

“One of the dogs clung to its owner’s corpse, and it was absolutely a miracle that it was rescued six days later,” said Csenay Tekinbas, a representative of the local HAYTAP animal welfare group.