Today’s Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants will be presented in Hebrew and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Welcome, kindhearted viewers, to this edition of Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants featuring Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love in Or-Yehuda, Israel, founded by Ms. Ora Kebabgian.

What led Ms. Kebabgian to establish her canine shelter?

It just occurred by itself. When I retired, I found a dog here, a dog there. So I met this woman who used to save dogs. We met several times at the vet’s office, and this was my destiny and the dogs’. Then, just like that, each time we met, she said, “Wow, Ora, you must help me out. I have no place for this dog.” I took one dog from her, later I took another. Well, suddenly, without noticing it at all, I saw that I had grown. I made kennels and started to get dogs out of quarantine, and so on. I don’t regret it because I’m all alone and they are guarding the place.

And how many dogs are now happily living at Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love ?

Today I have 80 dogs.

Eighty dogs and you work by yourself?

I am working alone. There are some volunteer women, but they generally come only on Fridays.

Ms. Kebabgian regularly undergoes radiation therapy sessions for a health condition, a procedure which make her very tired. Despite her low energy levels following the treatments, she continues on to wholeheartedly serve the wonderful canine residents.

In the morning, I get up, but it is hard, because I feel the fatigue after the radiotherapy. But I get over it.

Amazing, good for you. You are a very brave person.

What sorts of dogs come to live at Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love ?

I take in abandoned dogs, dogs about to be euthanized, and try to save them, rehabilitate them and place them in homes with people who adopt.

To find them a warm home with a loving family.

Yes, I am trying to.

This highway is quite close to the airport, and there are many dogs just being abandoned by citizens on their way to travel.

Right, right. There are many here. In the summer in particular, I get up in the morning and see a new dog chained to my gate. Yes.

Do some people leave their dogs chained to your gate and just leave?

Yes, to my gate. Really, if I go to the supermarket, and come back I just see a dog at the gate.

Now let’s meet some of the playful canine residents of Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love !

Every dog has a name and every dog has a story. This dog… Tyler, come here. Tyler, come and get it, Tyler. Tyler was hit by a car.

An accident?

An accident, yes. I took him to Let the Animals Live (NGO). From Let the Animals Live, they sent me to some vets, and (the vets) wanted to amputate his leg. I did not agree to that.

Then I took him, transferred him at my cost, the treatments were also at my cost. It cost me NIS2,000 (US$550). It was very difficult. I did it in installments, but he now has four legs.

Kouchena the dog arrived from the town of Or Yehuda (Israel).

I took her and she has been with us seven years and is having a good life here. She is the most loved one here, Koucha!

This one I just found; They (the caregiver) just ditched him. He was trying to make friends with every cyclist passing by. That is what I saw and I just jumped over, because if you leave a dog there, in no time a car will pass by on this highway and hit him.

Besides rescuing them herself, Ms. Kebabgian also gets dogs from people who contact Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love for assistance.

People are always calling; I also receive dogs from the city of Ashkelon (Israel).

From the city of Beersheba (Israel). I receive a lot. I also have puppies. They arrived, a mother with six puppies. I raised them and gave them away. If everyone would adopt a dog, and everyone would neuter them, we wouldn’t have them in such huge numbers. I had a huge Saint Bernard, until someone fortunately, even though the dog was quite old, 10 years old, a person from the city of Eilat (Israel) who had a fondness for large dogs (took him). It was my good fortune, he came all the way from Eilat to adopt him. He was an elderly man, some 80 years old.

Ifat is one of the compassionate Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love volunteers who helps Ora Kebabgian tremendously.

First I saw an advertisement on the Internet that Ora needed people to volunteer and come to help, and I first came a year ago and saw the place, and loved it. And it’s a great place because there are lots of dogs, they can run and are not in small cages. Ora’s a nice person. She needs a lot of help because she is alone and so I love to come here. I’m also a student. I’m really working hard and study hard all week but I find time at the end of the weekend to come and to help.

It’s not like other places that take dogs and give them a place to live until they find a home, it’s like a home.

And what does Ifat normally do to help when she comes to Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love ?

First of all, I clean the place. So first we go and clean all the places and the big cages and then I go to the place of the pets and clean there and put water and food. And if there is a dog that is ill that needs to go to the vet, I take him; we get help and then we ensure that everything is okay, all the dogs are okay.

The dogs are just charming, they’re all so friendly, pleasant, all living together.

Yes, they are. When a new dog comes in, he is placed in the kennel, but not for long… over time I start getting him out, and then they get used to it and accepted. They are well cared for… there is a vet whom we summon monthly, and he checks on each dog.

When dogs are cared for, they give immense love in return.

Really…I feel it, when I go away and come back, wow, how they jump in joy and happiness. They really return a lot of love. They are really grateful for being saved. Dogs particularly bring happiness to a home. I see it in many homes. It is the children, even sick people, when they caress them, it gives them… How shall I put it… I don’t know how to explain it… but it relaxes them.

A dog does not have many demands; just some food and he is really really grateful. Every time that I come here and see the dogs, it’s good for me. It’s not only for the dogs; it’s time for me to enjoy being with them. They are good, they are great just to be with. So they have lots of love to give, so they are sweet.

With all her attention and love in providing the dogs with food and veterinary treatment, Ora Kebabgian still wishes she could do more for the canines at Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love , like building a more comfortable home for them.

With the food and the treatments… I never get to make their sheds. Because it is very expensive…it always remains last (on my list). Every year – next year I’ll have the money, next year I’ll have the money, but I don’t get anywhere. For saving dogs, I have a vet on call. I have accrued a bill of NIS19,000 (US$5,200) from saving dogs. I have now reduced the debt to NIS15,000 (US$4,100), but it is still very, very difficult to settle the debt.

Over time I hope, bit by bit. I need to build roofs for the kennels. And a bit more space, so they have a warm place; however, it takes a lot of money. I really need to have a roof for the dogs. That’s what I need.

After learning that Ms. Ora Kebabgian has been a vegetarian for more than 20 years, we asked her why she decided to adopt this benevolent lifestyle.

When I was a child, you ate what the parents cooked. However, over time, when I started loving animals, I just couldn’t bear the thought that a chicken has to be slaughtered and suffer, or some other animal is slaughtered and eaten. I can’t do that ever in my life.

You don’t eat eggs either, do you?

Not eggs, not meat, not fish, nothing. When you take the meat and you have to cut it, then each time it tells you again that it is a living soul. Once, when we were children and (meat was) prepared for us, we did not know what it was. However, when you just see it, you see this blood… it is really disgusting.

I don’t mind not eating meat at all.

Ms. Ora Kebabgian, Ifat and the other volunteers at Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love, we deeply thank you for your loving, dedicated efforts to uplift the lives of vulnerable dogs in Israel. May Ora’s Dogs-A Place Of Love remain a splendid, safe sanctuary for canines without homes and a model for selfless devotion in the future.

Thank you, noble viewers, for watching today’s Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. May our world quickly re-discover the love that is so often missed on the speedy highways of life.