Klaus Jurgens, Voices Columnist
YEARS back the sight of any free roaming dog was cause for alarm as I had had our first daughter in tow – and unleashed big dog did not necessarily equal child-friendly dog.
However, I remember that actually there were not too many here in Didim, street dogs that is. Yet over time the situation deteriorated, stories of both four-legged house pets as well as two-legged people being attacked, respectively, surfaced and the topic became a hot issue for months to come. Then silence, figuratively speaking: no night time barking anymore!
Approximately since 18 months ago the subject is firmly back on my columnist’s agenda though and as it seems 2014 may top the charts with regards to the number of street dogs straying around once more.
My family is most definitely an animal lover household. As a matter of fact when we will eventually have found a place to live with garden attached we are going to buy a dog, too. At present there is space only for two canaries. My daughter loves horses, cats and even turtles, too, so no doubt about that.
But being animal lover should not lead to tolerate each and every of them doing whatever it wants. A city is no jungle and humans must find a way to live side by side with members of the animal kingdom. And this latter group cohabitating with us in turn must do its part, too.
My initial realization of that there is perhaps a problem in this country was when we had moved up to Istanbul in 2006. Every night sizeable numbers of street dogs would moonlight as squatters and congregate in the many empty, left to rotten wooden houses.
Empty because property owners hoped for a dramatic rise in property prices due to Turkey’s economic ascent hence estimated that there is no urgent need to renovate but better wait before selling for a small fortune.
Whether or not street dogs would move in no one really cared and this was in a supposedly ‘posh’ neighborhood a few minutes away from the Bosporus.
By means of comparison: much less of a problem in the capital Ankara and as I can confirm almost no issue at all in green Bolu. Have I seen a street dog in Sanliurfa for example? I cannot even remember so I assume there were none! What I want to say is this: similar to keeping towns rubbish free it is possible to keep a city street dog free, almost that is.
I am not putting blame on our new municipality administration, they simply inherited that problem from past powers that were.
But as the dogs I spot hanging around every other street corner and by now including some corners even here in previously street dog free zone – Mavisehir are getting bigger by the day, and many I walk past have serious health issues including apparently past injuries there is most likely only one option left.
Call the authorities to stop by and collect the poor little or not so little ones. But then what? Where to bring them? Where to clean them? Where to treat them? Where to neuter them? And above all else where-to release them?
Is there enough money? Does the public dog shelter have enough empty places? Are there enough volunteers? Is there a veterinarian at hand?
On a scale of relevance and as I will write about in another article soon obtaining your title deed including pool certificate comes first. Being insured against sickness and accident follows second! Living in a spotlessly clean neighborhood comes third but at least according to my family enjoying a street dog hassle free street, beach, shopping mall – car park is another priority.
Should this become an item for our next get-together between our municipality and the wider expat community perhaps? Is there anything we as exactly that expat community can do to help?
Sometimes I think that the only way out is to open a second dog shelter, a seriously sized one. But even if we find a sponsor would this guarantee that each and every street dog can be collected and placed in there? Can you imagine the number of additional staff that would entail? Maybe I am overly optimistic but something needs to be done and rather quickly so.
This piece is not to be misunderstood as another happy to moan – article. Far from it! Dare I say that probably many other residents regardless of whether Turkish or international will agree about the gist of this contribution. Didim is a fine resort to live in but why not raise those remaining topics which once properly being taken care of make it an even better place to live in?