It is recommended that dogs be sent to shelters, put to sleep or thrown into the forest under the name of “stray dog problem”, which has been circulating frequently recently. With this situation, which animal lovers strongly oppose, the shelters are claimed to be ‘death camps’.
The animals in many shelters are struggling to survive under very difficult conditions. Do you mean animals that eat each other alive from hunger, those who are tortured to death because their populations increase, or those who froze to death while sleeping on cold concrete?
So how can we prevent the increasing animal population on the streets without harming the animals?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not to collect animals and take them to shelters. However, if the care, vaccination, sterilization and feeding of animals in the city is done systematically, we can prevent this problem.
In addition to the authorities who should take responsibility here, the cooperation and guidance of the volunteers is also very important. In short, it is possible to live in a peaceful environment with street animals. So how?
Regular spaying should be done.
If animals are not neutered, they can get into an aggressive mood when they want to mate. It is a fact that they are more docile when neutered. If you have animals in your home, you can easily observe this.
The mating of a male and female animal multiplies in a year, resulting in the reproduction of hundreds of more animals. Therefore, the first step that should be taken as a priority is for the municipalities to sterilize by following surgical principles. Depending on the municipality you are affiliated with, you can make an appointment and have stray animals neutered. In the case of regular sterilization, it is predicted that the number of stray animals will be halved in a few years.
The production and sale of animals should be stopped.
While the number of animals on the streets is so high, by showing demand for breed animals, ensuring that they are produced more and not creating this opportunity for our friends who are waiting for a warm home outside, the dog population increases considerably.
Especially, the rate of abandonment of purchased animals on the street is very high. When you visit the shelter, it is possible to encounter many kinds of abandoned animals there. When you want to share your home with an animal, it is very important to give priority to the streets and shelters.
For example, the Bessie you see in the photo above is an abandoned golden. İzmir Metropolitan Municipality is waiting for someone who will open a home for it again at the Stray Animals Social Life Campus.
Children and adults should be trained on how to approach animals.
There are reasons why many of the injuries suffered by animals happen to children. Children learn their movements by adult teaching or by imitating adults. If a child is not taught how to approach animals, he may put himself in danger by making unconscious movements.
No animal or animal breed has an innate hatred or aggression towards you. It responds according to the reactions from its environment, for example, it is normal for a dog that has been abused or frightened by people to react to people.
Before approaching a dog, basic teachings such as allowing him to get to know you by smelling himself, not making movements that may make him nervous while eating, and avoiding actions that will scare him, should be made into training by detailing.
Feeding should be done systematically.
The fact that unneutered animals are more aggressive also applies to hungry animals. Unfortunately, there is a constant struggle for survival for them on the street. The places we built by destroying their natural habitats made their lives very difficult. Stray animals spend most of their days looking for food. Many of the meals we put in front of our doors and next to the garbage are not suitable for them.
For this reason, it should be ensured that these feedings are made regular by choosing the places determined together with the volunteers as feeding points. By building huts, areas should be created for them to feel warmer and safer.
It is in our hands to create a peaceful living environment together.
This world is the habitat of humans as well as all other living things. Developing solutions to try to take away the basic freedoms of animals, because we can use our minds in a more complicated way than they do, is far from the concept of humanity that we are proud of.
It is possible to live peacefully with animals on the streets by applying these really effective solutions suggested by experts. If you want to take responsibility, you can make regular shelter visits besides disseminating and implementing all these solutions.
Most of our cities have voluntary associations, communities or individuals in shelters. For example, you can be the voice of the animals in the shelters by joining the Afalina Animal Rights Group, which tries to improve the living spaces of our friends there by making voluntary shelter visits every Sunday.
Source: Judge Committee
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