not just cats btw, I've seen the same thing happen with puppies, hedgehods and wounded birds.
we tend not to think about these animals as strays, but just other creatures who live alongside us in parks, gardens etc. it helps that most of the residential apartments you see in most of the older parts of istanbul have their own garden with bunch of vegetation, flowers and trees, so there's actually some habitat for these animals to survive.
it's suprising to me how americans and western europeans sometimes scoff at this, even though the result is basically we have cats instead of rats. much preferable I think.
I saw someone in another sub talking about needing to get their community cats off the streets because they would have been culled, so it might be localized.
It’s surprising to me how few people know about this. Türkiye has become a living hell for cats and dogs. They’re being “euthanised” with bleach in some areas. Complete psychos
this is actually news to me. I was not aware of cats being culled/poisoned in istanbul before. so far I've only heard of dogs (which also sucks btw, not defending)
I was absolutely shocked when I visited NYC this summer and found out that to combat the rat problem they recently started using trash cans instead of just piling the bags on the street for collection.
They definitely exist in the wild and especially in any major city, but New York does have it worse and it’s their own damn fault
Not puppies anymore, unfortunately.
Mass killing of stray has officially started last september and was going for some time even before that unofficially.
My cat runs free pest control. I'm more than happy in the summer when I wake up and she has 2 or 3 dead mice proudly lined up to show me.
Doing God's work that one
Edit - hell our Government even has a Mouser in Chief. I'm not sure if it's still Larry or if he retired, but if the Government have a position for a cat to be Mouser in Chief, what's good for the goose is good for the gander
Cats are an invasive species and hunt for fun, so they’re a massive threat to native birds. Cat saliva is laden with bacteria, so even one bite can be fatal to a small animal. They’re also vulnerable to more diseases, and with the bird flu going around that’s an additional danger to cats.
Not my pig, not my farm, etc., but I hope you at least acknowledge the risks and negative effects.
It is something that travel agencies also like to boast about. The kindness extends to feeding, putting out water bowls and putting up cat houses, but often enough it stops the moment a cat needs to see a vet for illness/injury, because that is expensive.
(I recently visited turkey for my (not turkish) animal welfare association, to gain some experience myself regarding the situation. I visited Rescuers (people who actually take in sick/injured strays, and who organize neuterings of strays) and two shelters as well as different veterinary clinics. If you would like to hear more about my experience, feel free to pm me!)
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u/TheAserghui Feb 12 '25
Istanbul is very cat friendly, once they realized what she picked up I bet they went from thinking she was crazy crazy to normal crazy