This street dog was given free access to city transport until he found his forever home

It's not every day that one comes across a street dog traveling on the city's ferries, trams and subway cars. However, in 2021 many people came to know a dog named Boji, who used to indepentally throughout Instanbul on public transport. "He knows where to go. He knows where to get out," Avlin Erol, the head of customer relations at Metro Istanbul told CNN. He used to travel about 30 kilometers every day, going through different metro stations and taking about two ferries until he finally found a home.

Chris McGrath, a Getty Images photographer who spent a day following Boji around the city, said that he is such a free spirit and all he wants to do is travel. Every time a bus, a van or any other form of transport passes by him, he just wants to get on it. Boji eventually had celebrity status because wherever he went people recognized him. McGrath shared an instance where Boji went into one restaurant and two men shooed him away and yelled at him. Soon someone else told the men, '"It's Boji! It's Boji! Don't shoo him away!'"

That's not all. Even the municipal workers were protective of him, especially when they took him for grooming sessions and medical checkups. They also conducted a behavioral study to know how Boji was doing with all the human interactions around him. They even created a little kennel for him at one of the stations, and they feed him whenever he comes back there. However, Boji loves to roam around.

Lastly, the municipal workers kept a mobile app to keep track of Boji's movements. McGrath was in awe when he saw how the dog knew where the doors of the trains were. "He'll stand on the side of the platform, and as soon as he hears the vibration of the train coming, he goes to the very end of the platform and then basically chases the train back and waits by the door," shared the photographer. However, boji can sometimes be quite pushy and doesn't always allow people to get off while he is getting in.

Boji also knows where the ferries are going. The photographer shared that he chose between two ferries, one going to Eminonu and the other to Besiktas. So, he got onto the one that went to Eminonu and quickly realized that's the wrong one so he ducked under the turnstiles and got onto the one that went to Besiktas. "I don't know how he knows, but he seems to like riding the Besiktas ferry," said McGrath.

Moreover, it wasn't hard for Boji to find food or water in the city as there were so many stray animals in Istanbul. McGrath said that there are food and water bowls for animals kept in the corners of restaurants or houses. "So he knows where to go," shared the photographer. However, one unique thing about Boji is that he doesn't like to take directions. "He doesn't listen to anybody," said McGrath. "Lots of people say, 'Oh, come over here, sit here,' and he just ignores it, he goes where he wants to go. He's that sort of spirit. He just wants to go and do his own thing and travel around, and he's quite content doing it," McGrath realized.

Thankfully in 2022, Boji finally found a home after regularly traveling on public transport for long. Ekrem Imamoglu, the city mayor back then, announced that he was adopted by Omer Koc, chairperson of Koc Holding, one of the biggest conglomerates of Turkey, according to DailySabah. Before being adopted, Boji was kept at a shelter run by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as it was getting cold in the city. Though he was loved by many, Boji also became a victim of a smear campaign. In a photo released on social media that looked as if he has defecated on the seat of a tram he was traveling in. However, security footage released by the municipality revealed that the canine excrement was planted there by an unknown man.

This article originally appeared 5 months ago.