One of the sights that most tugs on the heartstrings of any visitor to Didim is the huge number of street animals, cats and dogs without owners, that rely on the kindness of people for their survival, writes Laura Bower.

CoDA, Care of Didim Animals, is a 10-year-old organisation set up to feed and care for as many of these creatures as they can reach.

CoDA is a group of volunteers that work with the council-run dog shelter, supporting the council’s three vets and raising funds and donating time and effort to walking sheltered dogs, bringing animals in for neutering, and the never-ending cleanup operation involved in maintaining a hygienic environment at the shelter.

Didim Council has been resisting pressure from the government to enforce draconian rules designed to reduce the number of street animals, from culling of homeless animals to an incoming law making the last person to feed a street animal legally responsible if that animal goes on to harm someone.

While the council has managed to avoid being forced to implement these rules so far, the council animal shelter is getting fuller, putting huge pressure on its capacity, with 420 animals being cared for there at any one time.

In response, CoDA is fundraising to extend the capacity of the shelter with a separate quarantine area so sick and healthy animals can be separated, alongside their ongoing efforts to provide food, and volunteers to walk and the dogs and keep the living areas clean.

A recent fundraising fair was a great success. Attended by Didim Mayor Hatice Gencay,  it earned a whopping 200,000 TL including internet donations.

This was followed up on Sunday (Nov 23) when 80,000 TL was raised at CoDA’s Christmas Fair at Sunshine Bar on Altınkum beachfront.

It also hosts a regular table-top sale each Friday at Welcome Inn. CoDA also accept donations via their Turkish bank account, Paypal account and UK-based bank accounts.

CoDA’s traditional Boxing Day swim will instead be a Dash and Splash event to be held on Sunday December 28.

CoDA volunteer Dawn Caulkin said one of CoDA’s biggest challenges is increasing their fundraising reach, with the aim of getting a steady flow of income, and notes that donations don’t need to be large to have a big impact – smaller monthly contributions help support the day-to-day running of the charity and give a reliable income that helps with planning.

Volunteering at the shelter is another way you can make a difference, and this isn’t just about walking the dogs.

Cleaning the bowls, scrubbing out the cages, gathering donated items, promoting the charity, sharing CoDA’s Facebook posts to widen the circle of support are all helpful.

And it doesn’t need to be an ongoing commitment or a big gesture – in the words of a well-known British supermarket, every little helps.