An American living in Istanbul, Turkey noticed something disheartening.
The golden retrievers that had once represented wealth and status to their owners in Turkey, were now being discarded like yesterday's news.
Istanbul has had a stray problem for years and have recently gone so far as to implement dog food vending machines to help them.
"Ten years ago, golden retrievers were seen as a status symbol dog in Turkey. Then a few years later everybody had them, and therefore the status was no longer there. They started abandoning them in the streets of Turkey," says Lauren Genkinger, the founder and head of Adopt a Golden Atlanta.
The American called Genkinger, and her team intervened to do something amazing.
They crossed international waters to rescue 36 golden retrievers, 20 boys and 16 girls, from the streets of Turkey.
"This is the largest known rescue of golden retrievers internationally, ever," she said.
The situation for the some 50,000 strays living in Istanbul was bleak.
"A couple we brought over, they were living on the streets and they're two years of age. They look about eight."
Though it's important to remember this problem isn't cultural, it's global. In the United States alone there are approximately 70 million stray dogs.
Watch the video to see what happens when these golden retrievers meet the folks waiting for them in America.
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