A video taken by Dilara İlter shows a truly spectacular scene she witnessed through her parents’ window.
On the street below her, you can see a woman leading a parade of dozens of different species of animal; cats, dogs and birds alike. All willingly following the mysterious woman as if she was a real-life Disney princess.
“The woman was walking very calmly,” Dilara told Bored Panda. “That lady is from my parents’ neighborhood, and my mom told me she’s a foreigner.”
“Every other day, she gathers stray animals around and feeds them, but at the time of recording the video, I didn’t know about this. The moment I saw her walking like that, I thought she was a wizard, with so many crows and cats.”
Here’s the full video
Apparently, Dilara’s mum attempted to speak to the lady after the video first went viral, but she was shy since she didn’t speak very good Turkish.
A full year later, Dilara saw the same woman, and all the same animals were still following her.
Dilara said her mom tried to talk to the lady after the video went viral, but she was shy because she couldn’t speak Turkish well, so the conversation couldn’t proceed much.
A year later, Dilara spotted the same woman, and the animals were still following her
This time she managed to get a little more information. Apparently, the woman gathers every day and feeds stray animals who form a parade around her.
Turns out, the animals know her. “I know that she feeds the animals on this street very often, which is a very common behavior in Turkey,” Dilara explained. “In Istanbul, we love and care for stray animals, especially cats. They’re the symbol of the city.”