My journey to a forever home
with Fric and Frac
By Ergün Güçlüer
For fifty years of my life I too stood by and watched when I could have made a difference. All that changed in September last year when I learnt that Fric and Frac were to become homeless. At first my thoughts were how difficult could it possibly be to re-home 2 dogs, a piece of cake surely? I was so wrong, but I was always determined that 
I would never give up on them. At the end of their rainbow was their forever home.
Their owner left North Cyprus for the Dominican Republic as he was no longer employed. He took their mother Krull too.
Fric and Frac were born in January 2013, because their mother had not been neutered. They were brought up living in a large garden but they have had no contact with other dogs or people as they were never walked. In fact they only ever travelled by car. Now they were orphans, ownerless and homeless too.
For 7 month’s not one “suitable” person has come forward to be their new forever owner or foster owner in North Cyprus. That is not to say there had been no enquiries. Unfortunately, many people 
in North Cyprus do not realise the “Pets” are family and you do not tie them up all day, leave them out in cold at night or abandon them.
Their owner helped with some money towards finding homes, but it was always going to be a short term solution and then I would have to “make a difficult decision”. In fact a number of people advised me that “it was the kindest thing I could do for them”. When the money ran out the Hope 4 Pets, Facebook animal welfare group came to my rescue and have supported my cause ever since.
A number of reputable “animal carers/kennels” refused to take them in too. Fortunately, Niyazi (Petline Vets, Catalkoy) took them in on October 21st, where they have been ever since.
Since September I have tried all kind of means to raise awareness of their plight in the hope that they would find the forever homes they deserve. A number of articles have been written by others and me, both locally and online. I have also appeared on local radio and TV.
Witnessing through the ordeal of Fric and Frac had been going through has made me appreciate how serious the issue of stray dogs is in Northern Cyprus. It has changed my way of thinking, making me determined to try and make a difference.
In November, I successfully completed a sponsored 500 km walk to raise awareness and collected almost £1200.
Finally, in December I received a firm offer to re-home Fric and Frac. A forever owner who could offer all the things I had looked for in North Cyprus and more. I know they will be very happy in Ireland once they get there and I will go visit them for sure. It has not been easy fundraising as some of the quotes I have received are way off what I can realistically expect to raise. Following very good advice from Kyrenia Animal Rescue I have now decided to take them by road and sea with the help of a couple of kind volunteers, we will drive them to Ireland sometime late in May. That will be another story in itself.
As I am writing, we are very close to reaching our estimated costs for taking Fric and Frac to 
Galway, Ireland. They have successfully passed their Rabies serology tests and so now will wait another 8 weeks or so before applying for an export licence in order to leave.
I would like to thank again all of those kind people who have been helping and supporting me in this quest and I was delighted to meet at Petcross recently, Margaret Sheard and Chris Elliott of cyprusscene.com who had come to meet Fric and Frac and make a donation of £200.00 to our fund.
I may have looked out for Fric and Frac and hopefully taken them to their forever home, but I have had so much help both financially and moral support from many animal lovers from all over the world. Without them all I could not have got this far. They have kept me going when I have been down and it is for them I will see this journey to the end. Fric and Frac will be going to their forever home.
Editors note: for those readers who would like to see more of Fric and Frac please visit their Facebook page “Hope for Fric and Frac” by clicking here or to make a donation to help take them to their forever home. please click here
