The Middle East

Jordan 

Al Rabee Society for Nature and Animal Protection (RSNAP) in Aqaba, Jordan

Al Rabee Society for Nature and Animal Protection is a Jordan-based non-profit organization that was set up in 2013. The Al Rabee shelter is the only shelter of its kind in Aqaba and is home to more than 500 dogs. For the past three years, we have supported the shelter with the care of dogs and daily administration in a very remote area of Jordan, where resources and assistance are extremely limited. Our regular support also helps cover sterilization campaigns and food and vet bills. In 2022, we helped them move their shelter to much larger, better-suited premises. We also assisted with the installation of solar panels to help mitigate the area’s unreliable electricity supply.

Network for Animals once more stepped in by raising emergency funds for shelter repair when tragedy struck in 2023 and devastating flash floods destroyed much of the new shelter.

We also frequently assist with emergency cases. In May 2024, when heatwaves ravaged the area and put countless street dogs at risk of dehydration and death, we helped fund emergency missions to provide life-saving food and medical care for dogs suffering in the heat.

The following month, Al Rabee reached out to us with a desperate plea for help to cover medical bills for Zara, a pregnant street dog who had been shot, hit by a car and left for dead. Thanks to our supporters, we are covering Zara’s vet bills, and we are happy to say that Zara soon gave birth to a healthy litter of puppies.

Al Rahmeh in Amman, Jordan

A group of animal-lovers founded Al Rahmeh in 2017 to combat the mistreatment and demonization of the ancient Canaan dog breed in Jordan and animals in general. Their pro-life shelter is home to around 60 dogs, and they have cats in foster homes. They also run a trap-neuter-release program to keep the local cat population controlled and healthy. A number of the animals they care for have special needs, including blind, three-legged and paralyzed dogs. Network for Animals has supported the Al Rahmeh shelter and the ongoing care of their dogs and cats for the past five years, and in 2023, we helped launch a crucial sterilization program for the region’s street dogs.

Israel

Network for Animals supports the Starting Over Sanctuary (SOS), a safe haven for neglected donkeys situated in the Moshav Herut region of central Israel. Thanks to our supporters, we are in a position to provide SOS with regular donations. The funds go directly towards the sanctuary’s work rescuing and rehabilitating numerous donkeys, horses and other animals who find themselves in challenging and abusive situations across Israel.

In 2022, NFA supported the relocation of 200 donkeys rescued from abuse and neglect to La Tanière, a well-vetted sanctuary in France just outside of Paris. This remarkable 2,855-mile (4,595-kilometer) journey was only made possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters.

Israel-Hamas Conflict

In October 2023, violent conflict broke out after Hamas attacked Israel, and animals were abandoned as rockets struck and people fled for their lives. We knew that countless injured, terrified and forgotten animals would need our immediate help. We teamed up with fearless organizations on the ground – Let The Animals Live (LTAL) and our long-term partner Starting Over Sanctuary (SOS) in Israel, and Sulala Animal Rescue (SAR) and Animal Environment Association (AEA) in Palestine – to rush critical aid to animal war victims.

Dogs, cats, donkeys and other animals had been left without food, shelter or anyone to care for them. Working with emergency rescue teams and brave volunteers, we were able to rush food and supplies to animals trapped in war zones, evacuating as many as we could. As the brutal war wears on, our efforts to feed, shelter and evacuate thousands of animals continues, funded entirely by the compassion and generosity of Network for Animals supporters.

In a heartwarming example of what we can achieve when we work together, we were able to rehome 10 abused dogs from Palestine to their forever homes in the United States, helping to fund their relocation so they could live out the rest of their lives in safety.

We are continuing to support our partners throughout the conflict. In May 2024, we rushed emergency funds for crucial food and to support emergency evacuations from the war zones.

Turkey

We are on the ground when disasters strike, rushing to the aid of animals in the direst of need. It is often during times of crisis that animals become forgotten, abandoned victims, desperate for help that often never comes.

We are proud to say that we were on the ground when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake – and a subsequent quake of 6.4 magnitude, with a 5.8-magnitude aftershock – devastated parts of Turkey in February 2023, and we were still there when 90 more aftershocks followed. We immediately sprang into action, trawling ravaged landscapes for animal victims along with HAYTAP (Hayvan Hakları Federasyonu), a dedicated animal rescue organization working in the Antakya region. We helped rescue injured and displaced cats, dogs, puppies, birds and even farm animals like pregnant cows.

Rescued animals were given critical treatment, food and shelter at our emergency field tents, and in the following weeks and months, we helped to ensure that these tragic victims healed and found loving homes. Many lost their families in the tragedy, while others were forced to be separated from their owners as shelters would not allow people to keep their pets with them. It is a heartbreaking tragedy all round, but we will not abandon the animals when they need us most.

Despite the distressing conditions in southeastern Turkey around Tepecik, where thousands of abandoned or wild dogs suffer due to negligence and poor environmental management, our efforts are making a difference. In this 20-square-mile area plagued by improper waste disposal from local chicken farms and pollution from fertilizer factories, the dogs have been subjected to harsh conditions, surviving on the diseased carcasses of chickens and, tragically, resorting to the cannibalism of puppies. Feeding stations are actively refilled, and there is an awareness of the local authorities and an effort to help clean up water sources and streams contaminated with industrial effluents.

However, there have been notable improvements thanks to the pressure we've applied and the awareness we've created. Local authorities, previously inactive, have now built a shelter that houses 50 dogs, and our influence prompted the government to send a veterinarian who has performed 3,000 spays and neuters over two years. This marks a dramatic improvement in local attitudes towards animal welfare. The locals have begun taking better care of the animals, and there is openness to further collaboration in the future.