Center offers a natural, cancer-free organic life

BURDUR - Doğan News Agency

Poisoned or wounded wild animals fare treated in the Lisinia Doğa center. The animals are released back into nature after their treatment is finished. DHA photos

In the Lisinia Doğa (Anti-Cancer – Nature – Wildlife) area, established by veterinary doctor Öztürk Sarıca in the southern province of Burdur, nearly 2,000 people have worked and some 45,000 people have been provided with education about cancer in the last three years.

The project for the establishment of Lisinia Doğa started in 2005 on an area of 100 hectares on the bank of Burdur Lake near Karakent village, and the work was finished in three years at a cost of $1 million. Taking its name from one of the significant cities in the area in the past, the place is Turkey’s first wildlife rehabilitation center, where cigarettes and alcohol are prohibited and only organic products are used.

Poisoned or wounded wild animals that are brought from cities like Isparta, Antalya, Afyon, Denizli and Burdur are treated in the center. These animals are released back into nature after their treatment is finished. So far 350 animals have been treated in the center since its opening.

The center is also engaged in organic agriculture and the organization of events to inform people about cancer. So far, 45,000 people from Turkey and abroad have benefitted from education at the center. This number includes people from a range of occupations including journalists, doctors, writers, biologists, academics and from various countries such as Australia, Germany, Italy, Romania, U.S., England, Bulgaria and Spain. People learn about the types and causes of cancer, means of prevention, foods that causes cancer, organic diets, pollution and diseases caused by pollution.

The center’s founder, Öztürk Sarıca, said that he was organizing all events in the center with the support of his journalist wife Selvi Sarıca and volunteers, adding that people sensitive to nature came to the center to join the wildlife conservation activities. He said that some people had stayed at the center for up to one year, and that they provided accommodation and food for visitors.

Turks don’t show interest

Sarıca said that the aim of volunteers visiting the center was to work toward a clean nature and a cancer-free life, adding, “Some 2,000 people from the U.S. and European cities have worked in the center. Currently there are nine foreign volunteers working in the center. They give their support to our projects but we cannot see the same interest from Turks.”

Sarıca said that besides the education in the center, they would also provide education to villages. He said, “We will visit villages and give education on cancer and organic agriculture. Next year we will start an education campaign around Turkey and then we will give education abroad”

Lavri Norton, 58, who moved to Lisinia Doğa after working as a massage therapist in the U.S. for 30 years, is working as a volunteer at the center. Norton washes the dishes, cooks and takes care of wild animals while following the education on cancer and organic agriculture.