ISTAMBUL (dpa) – A minute of silence was the way the constitutional assembly of the “Platform for Friends of Animals” got underway trvrmzöx in the city of Izmir.
The silent protest was aimed at the killing of stray dogs which in Turkey are part of every city’s normal street scene – and which are not always harmless.
“The city administration is killing the animals, but it denies it,” says Senay Keller, chairman of the animal protection society. “And since there are no animal protection laws, people are encouraged to help out.”
While in other countries, for example Germany, protection of animal rights is becoming anchored in the national constitution, Turkish animal protectionists would simply be happy if there were at least some legal regulations.
The number of animal shelters putting up stray dogs and cats, usually under poor conditions, has grown enormously. But this has not stopped the complaints about the animals, and most Turkish cities face unresolved problems in view of the large number of stray dogs.
“I believe that (the eastern city of) Kars has the most stray dogs in Turkey,” the mayor, Niaf Alibeyoglu, says. While he may be exaggerating things, there is something which he openly admits: “Each day we are putting dozens of dogs to sleep.”
Then he says with some heat, “if the animal rights people are upset, then they should not only keep their household pets, but also take in the stray dogs”. He says residents are reporting how dogs have even been seen at cemeteries, digging up bones.
Officials in the Black Sea city of Giresun also say the city is being “overrun” by dogs. It was probably the harsh winter which drove the animals into the city. On some days, doctors have had to treat up to 20 dog-bite cases.
“In those quarters where most the complaints are from, we drug the dogs, castrate them and then set them free again,” Giresun mayor Mehmet Isik reports. The city has plans for a dog shelter, but lacks the money for one.
Istanbul is an example that dog shelters alone are not the answer. The city has an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 stray dogs.
Initially the shelters were set up to vaccinate the dogs against diseases, castrate them and then set them loose, says university professor Tamer Dodurga, noting that this was the “recipe” advocated by the World Health Organisation and successfully followed in other countries.
But in Istanbul, the dog shelters give an impression of being “animal prisons…unhealthy places full of stress for the animals”, Dodurga said.
Things aren’t much better in the city of Konya, in central Anatolia province, which has Turkey’s largest shelter containing 3,000 dogs. Recently the animals began tearing each other apart, driven by hunger after not having been fed for days.
Shelter officials deny any responsibility, saying there had been delays in ordering dog feed. They also have scorn for animal rights groups. One official said: “They want us to care for the dogs as if they were children.”
