|
|
|
| |
Our Work
We have adopted a Neuter and Return program for the benefit of both the animals and the population that have to live with them. This is the first successful program of its kind in Turkey.
Neuter and Return allows for a reduction in the number of strays
in any area, and at the same time reduces the health-risk to
the population by returning sterilized,
vaccinated and healthy animals back to the streets. Each dog
that is caught is sterilized, vaccinated against rabies and
parasites, and finally ear-tagged for recording purposes. Once
the animal is considered by the vet to be fit and healthy, it
is returned to the area where it was caught. It is important
to return the animal to the same place as soon as possible,
to prevent an otherwise untreated animal from taking over the
vacated territory.
By continual street-dog
and feral-cat collections, the harmonious balance
between them and the population is achieved. Colour -coded ear
tags enable us to re-vaccinate
the dogs on a yearly basis, and check on the health of the animal.
The Turkish people rarely keep dogs as pets, mainly through
their fear of rabies. The knowledge that the "tagged"
dogs have been vaccinated against rabies is helping to reduce
this fear. With less aggressive dogs back on the streets, people
are slowly coming to accept them.
The purges that result in the killing of so many animals in other regions of Turkey has resulted in some people trying to save the animals by providing shelter and food for them.
Any effort to save animals from painful death by poisoning has to be applauded, but in many cases where they are not able to provide a Neuter and Return program, this just leads to a large gathering of animals in a compound, with no chance of release.
This is a disjointed policy because while the shelter fills
up it becomes a concentration camp, and at the same time the
animals at large continue to breed. Sooner or later the concentration
camp will become an extermination camp, as the resources
to look after so many animals are exhausted.
Resolving the Fethiye street dog problem is helping tourism too. Rose, a visitor from England, used to visit Fethiye yearly, but stopped after learning of the annual killing of dogs. She became attached to the puppies in the streets, but when she returned she found they had all been killed. After several years away, she came back to Turkey to spend the whole summer of 2002 in Fethiye. She also became a regular visitor at our Centre.
|
|
|
