Istanbul, June 12 – 4 million canines with out house owners roam the streets of Turkey, in line with estimates by the Authorities of the Eurasian nation, which has introduced a challenge to cut back their quantity, amid controversy from those that view the presence of the animals with “terror”. and people who ask to “share love” with them.
The proposed legislation, which the Turkish Parliament hopes to debate quickly, plans to switch stray canines to kennels, the place they are often adopted inside a interval of 30 days.
But when they don’t discover an proprietor inside a month, they are going to be euthanized to liberate house, for the reason that 250 animal shelters in Turkey collectively have locations for a most of 90,000 animals.
The proposal has raised blisters in Turkish society, accustomed to seeing animals, particularly cats, but in addition canines, even within the middle of the biggest cities.
«Right here, folks cease on the road to pet a cat. Once I go overseas and see that there aren’t any stray animals, I’m stunned; “It’s unusual that there aren’t any residing beings with whom to share a second of affection,” Dilara Berk, head veterinarian on the Kemerburgaz animal shelter in Istanbul, tells EFE.
Though cats are, after all, way more cuddly than canines, additionally they have their trustworthy.
An Ottoman custom
There are those that take lengthy walks and even journey by automobile with the purpose of bringing meals to a pack of stray canines, as Firuzan, a businesswoman from Istanbul, does.
“Taking good care of stray canines has been a part of our tradition since Ottoman occasions,” Firuzan explains to EFE.
If the businesswoman finds a sick canine, she takes it to the veterinarian, a service that the Kemerburgaz municipal unit provides freed from cost.
«If they bring about an animal, a remedy is carried out and when it’s recovered it’s sterilized. The canines are additionally given a temperament check,” says Berk.
As soon as recovered, dewormed and vaccinated, the animal receives a chip with its medical historical past… and is taken again to the place the place it was discovered, until it’s thought-about unhealthy.
«Canine dwell in a hierarchy. For those who depart them in one other surroundings, fights could come up within the new flock, one thing that doesn’t occur if they’re returned to the unique place,” explains the veterinarian.
Marketing campaign towards canine “terror”
However not all of Türkiye sees the state of affairs as idyllic, particularly in areas the place neighbors complain of a herd.
In a current Authorities survey, 88% of respondents confirmed that there have been stray canines of their neighborhood, one thing that 83% thought-about “an issue”, whereas half claimed to know somebody near them who had been attacked by certainly one of these animals.
18% are in favor of sterilizing animals, leaving them on the streets, whereas 80% assist the plan to take them to kennels for adoption, “sacrificing the sick.”
In one other survey, solely 41% see “a hazard” in stray animals (with out specifying), and solely 16% ask to euthanize canines that assault folks.
The Güsoder affiliation, which campaigns towards the “terror” of those animals, claims to have documented 67 deadly incidents on-line for the reason that starting of 2022, together with site visitors accidents brought on by canines and other people hit by a automobile whereas fleeing from a canine.
In whole, he claims to have discovered documentation on the Web about 107 deaths, 50 of them kids, attributable to canines, with out specifying the interval by which these circumstances occurred.
Firuzan insists that the packs of canines he feeds in an Istanbul forest by no means assault anybody and at most bark when working after a bicycle owner. “In the event that they assault, it’s as a result of somebody has provoked them,” he says.
Essentially the most conservative newspapers typically spotlight incidents with canines, maybe interesting to a non secular sector that considers the canine an impure animal in line with its interpretation of Islam, though in Istanbul it isn’t uncommon to see stray canines mendacity within the courtyard of a mosque with out being no person trouble.
Even the fundamentalist Yeniden Refah social gathering has spoken out towards the proposed legislation and its chief, Fatih Erbakan, has referred to as for “cleansing the streets of ownerless canines”, however stressing that they need to “dwell nicely in trendy shelters”, and never be euthanized.
Firuzan doesn’t imagine that canines will disappear from the streets of Türkiye. The present marketing campaign, he says, “is simply an try and scapegoat canines for what’s unsuitable in society.”
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2024-06-14 12:51:45