Over 10,000 strays in Turkey rehabilitated in 2017

A park has opened up for for vulnerable cats, proving food, shelter, fun and games in Mersin, Turkey

More than 10,000 injured and stray animals were rehabilitated in Ankara last year, according to the Turkish metropolitan municipality in a statement today.

Ankara Metropolitan Municipality said it was helping stray, injured and sick animals at its rehabilitation centres by taking them off the streets in ambulances and animal transport vehicles.

A total of 10,619 injured stray animals were treated in 2017, a figure up from 2016 when 8,822 stray animals were treated.

The estimated number of stray cats and dogs living amongst Istanbul’s 15-million-strong population city rose to some 250,000 in 2017, according to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Veterinary Services Directorate.

Read: Animals from Syrian Zoo transferred to Turkey

However, the Istanbul Chamber of Veterinary Surgeon believe the number is much higher, with dogs reportedly numbering around 300,000 and the city’s famous cats numbering around 700,000.

Tombili, a much-loved cat who was pictured leaning against a step, and later immortalised with a like-size statue by fans after he died [Twitter]

Istanbul has become known for its strays which are all vaccinated and marked. On social media, countless posts and pages are dedicated to cats and dogs snapped around the city; the most famous of which was Tombili, a chubby feline who was pictured leaning against a step, and later immortalised with a like-size statue by fans after he died.

A feature-length documentary was also released in New York last year about Istanbul’s cats.

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.