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How are street dogs dealt with currently in Turkey?
(35 Messages in 4 pages - View all)
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1.       Roswitha
4132 posts
 10 Feb 2009 Tue 01:32 am

What about the Turkish people. How do they think of stray and neglected animals?

Most people aren’t even aware of the fact that animals have feelings, like pain and joy. A lot of Turkish people consider them dirt. They are regarded as lower species and it seems to be a law of nature in Turkish society that one always mistreats the ones that are lower. People are afraid of the dogs roaming around and there are a lot of misconceptions regarding animal rights and the Islam. This is why animal welfare workers are often considered kind of an enemy rather that the more or less heroic image they have in western society.

Are their street cats in Turkey and what is the condition like for them?

There are indeed a lot of street cats as well, but a cat is more self-supporting and has the ability to hide himself. One of my friends in Istanbul feeds about 60 stray cats every day. One evening I joined her. When we arrived at the feeding spots I could really not see one cat, but after her special whistle about 30 cats came running towards us to get their daily meal. So cats aren’t very much threatened.

FOR ALL ANIMAL LOVERS LIKE ME, WHO LOVE CATS AND DOGS

http://www.abolitionist-online.com/07r_turkey.shtml

2.       lady in red
6947 posts
 10 Feb 2009 Tue 12:04 pm

 

Quoting Roswitha

What about the Turkish people. How do they think of stray and neglected animals?

Most people aren’t even aware of the fact that animals have feelings, like pain and joy. A lot of Turkish people consider them dirt. They are regarded as lower species and it seems to be a law of nature in Turkish society that one always mistreats the ones that are lower. People are afraid of the dogs roaming around and there are a lot of misconceptions regarding animal rights and the Islam. This is why animal welfare workers are often considered kind of an enemy rather that the more or less heroic image they have in western society.

Are their street cats in Turkey and what is the condition like for them?

There are indeed a lot of street cats as well, but a cat is more self-supporting and has the ability to hide himself. One of my friends in Istanbul feeds about 60 stray cats every day. One evening I joined her. When we arrived at the feeding spots I could really not see one cat, but after her special whistle about 30 cats came running towards us to get their daily meal. So cats aren’t very much threatened.

FOR ALL ANIMAL LOVERS LIKE ME, WHO LOVE CATS AND DOGS

http://www.abolitionist-online.com/07r_turkey.shtml

 

There are too many street dogs where I live.  The Belediye take them off the streets periodically to inject them against rabies and spay the females but they put them straight back on the street.  In the summer they must be a real nuisance to the tourists as they roam on the beaches.  In the winter they are much hungrier as nearly all the restaurants are closed and they can´t scavenge the bins for food and they tend to run in ´packs´ which can be quite scary although I don´t find the dogs scary individually.  There are quite a lot of people here who feed the dogs - mainly Brits/Dutch - and on Saturday there was actually a sale of books/cakes etc. to raise money to buy food for them.

 

Recently there was a spate of poisoning of street dogs - thankfully this has stopped, I don´t think it was ever found out who was doing it.  This is certainly NOT the way to deal with the problem.  Personally I think the dogs should be taken off the street and if a home can´t be found for them then they should be humanely put down.  But apparently this is not an acceptable option.  I wouldn´t say that Turkish people don´t like dogs, I think a lot of them are scared of them and in general they definitely don´t treat them as ´one of the family´ as certainly most British people do (can´t vouch for the rest of the World!).

 

I have heard that part of the problem with so many street dogs is that Turkish people from Istanbul/Ankara who spend their summers here will often buy a dog but then turn it out on the street when they leave - I don´t know if this is true.

 

Cats!  - hundreds of them!  Nearly everyone I know feeds 3 or 4 street cats - who then become sort of ´half street cats".  The other streets cats seem to live in the litter bins .  There is group of animal welfare people who come into town regularly and try to catch them to inject and spay them.  If you feed a street cat you start to feel responsible for it - my responsibility for one a few months ago ended up with me having a course of anti-rabies injections!!  Good job I´m protected because I am going to have to take one of the others to the vet later today - hopefully this one won´t turn so vicious {#lang_emotions_scared}

 

3.       anka
207 posts
 10 Feb 2009 Tue 12:31 pm

 

Quoting Roswitha

What about the Turkish people. How do they think of stray and neglected animals?

Most people aren’t even aware of the fact that animals have feelings, like pain and joy. A lot of Turkish people consider them dirt. They are regarded as lower species and it seems to be a law of nature in Turkish society that one always mistreats the ones that are lower. People are afraid of the dogs roaming around and there are a lot of misconceptions regarding animal rights and the Islam. This is why animal welfare workers are often considered kind of an enemy rather that the more or less heroic image they have in western society.

Are their street cats in Turkey and what is the condition like for them?

There are indeed a lot of street cats as well, but a cat is more self-supporting and has the ability to hide himself. One of my friends in Istanbul feeds about 60 stray cats every day. One evening I joined her. When we arrived at the feeding spots I could really not see one cat, but after her special whistle about 30 cats came running towards us to get their daily meal. So cats aren’t very much threatened.

FOR ALL ANIMAL LOVERS LIKE ME, WHO LOVE CATS AND DOGS

http://www.abolitionist-online.com/07r_turkey.shtml

 

Excuse me! I strongly disagree this generalization being a creature lover as well..

We Turks don´t see the lower creatures to be treated bad! It is an unjust judgement.

or I am and the ones i know are not Turks..

 

4.       lady in red
6947 posts
 10 Feb 2009 Tue 12:47 pm

 

Quoting anka

 

 

Excuse me! I strongly disagree this generalization being a creature lover as well..

We Turks don´t see the lower creatures to be treated bad! It is an unjust judgement.

or I am and the ones i know are not Turks..

 

 

 I agree actually - I should have said that in my post.  Dogs/cats are not treated badly, I just think that they are not treated (generally) as ´one of the family´ !

5.       libralady
5152 posts
 11 Feb 2009 Wed 11:22 pm

It is something I notice when I go to Turkey and this subejct has been raised before.

 

One way for the resorts boys to attract girls is to have a pretty little puppy...... but we also noticed that the dogs are often tagged and they tend to find a sympathetic tourist (me) who will stroke and play with them.  And for every one of me, there are plenty more.

 

As for cats, we saw many cats in the Bitez area, so starving, it is a wonder they could walk.  One little cat came to our table every morning for breakfast and Mrs softy fed it every day.  I even went home worrying about that little cat. 

 

But in Gümüslük, I saw a cat that nearly made me sick!  Half it´s bottom jaw and one eye was missing.  It was looking at me and I nearly retched!!! {#lang_emotions_puking} There were about three cats under our table at lunch and my husband decided to drop some fish skin on the floor and I nearly didn´t have any legs left.

 

But certainly any country I have been too, apart from America, the cats and dogs are not treated like pets as we know it in the UK, but left to roam wild and fend for themselves (in general, not all are like that).

6.       tinababy
1096 posts
 12 Feb 2009 Thu 01:00 am

Yes - the Bitez area has an awful lot of beach dogs but I have noticed that the restaurant owners do their best for them - especially in low season. I have a Turkish friend who often bottle feeds kittens when the mother has not survived. This is a big committment - but once the kitten is of an age it is considered a "grown up"!!

I think the English are far more emotional about animals - I know I feed our estate cats when I am there and then assume that other people take over when I am not there. So far this is working but the guilty conscience gets worse every time I leave "my" cat!!

7.       angel_of_death
686 posts
 12 Feb 2009 Thu 03:18 am

When I first came in Istanbul, I was shocked to see so many dogs and cats on the streets.  At first I thought they could be dangerous, carrying diseases and such so even though I love dogs(I´m not really a cat person), I tried to avoid physical contact with them until I learned that the ones with pierced ears are registered and vaccinated by the government.  Then I started feeding them every day with leftovers and sometimes regular dog food.

 

I don´t know about any other parts of Istanbul, but in Atasehir, the stray dogs are really friendly.  They always used to come along when I was taking a walk in the dark or during my morning walks.  They´re extremely needy though, they always ask for attention and love rather than food or shelter=).

8.       Mike Mc
13 posts
 12 Feb 2009 Thu 06:23 pm

I feel really strongly about this. Every resort I have stayed in has it´s quota of half starved creatures roaming the streets in search of food. We too have fed cats on each of our holidays.  When I came home last year I found the web site of the local council, Belidiye, and there was a link allowing people to send comments. So I commented both on the stray animals, and also on the long queues for passport controls at Dalaman. I copied the e-mails to the Tourism ministry, and to the Turkish Embasssy in London. I think that people have to make their views known to the authorities who regard Tourism money highly.

 

Incidentally, Greece has much the same problem.

9.       tamikidakika
1346 posts
 12 Feb 2009 Thu 06:34 pm

 

Quoting Mike Mc

I feel really strongly about this. Every resort I have stayed in has it´s quota of half starved creatures roaming the streets in search of food. We too have fed cats on each of our holidays.  When I came home last year I found the web site of the local council, Belidiye, and there was a link allowing people to send comments. So I commented both on the stray animals, and also on the long queues for passport controls at Dalaman. I copied the e-mails to the Tourism ministry, and to the Turkish Embasssy in London. I think that people have to make their views known to the authorities who regard Tourism money highly.

 

Incidentally, Greece has much the same problem.

 

 

so what is your solution to this problem? should Turkey get rid of all the stray animals by killing  them just like what most of the western countries did long ago. or do you think the government can feed them forever?

10.       alameda
3499 posts
 12 Feb 2009 Thu 08:42 pm

 

Quoting angel_of_death

When I first came in Istanbul, I was shocked to see so many dogs and cats on the streets.  At first I thought they could be dangerous, carrying diseases and such so even though I love dogs(I´m not really a cat person), I tried to avoid physical contact with them until I learned that the ones with pierced ears are registered and vaccinated by the government.  Then I started feeding them every day with leftovers and sometimes regular dog food.

 

I don´t know about any other parts of Istanbul, but in Atasehir, the stray dogs are really friendly.  They always used to come along when I was taking a walk in the dark or during my morning walks.  They´re extremely needy though, they always ask for attention and love rather than food or shelter=).

 

 In some of the more affluent areas in California, USA people have dogs to guard their property.

 

One day I was visiting such an area and I wanted to smoke a cigarette. I decided to take a walk, when all of a sudden about 7 large dogs decided to "walk" with me. It was rather frightening as the leader of the pack was a wolf dog (half wolf half German Shepard) I was rather upset and told them," look guys, I´m just trying to have a smoke, OK?"

 

It turned out OK, but it was really an "interesting" experience. The wolf dog decided I was part of the pack.

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