[dalys]

As the article neglects to mention, stray dogs are a huge problem in Turkey. My wife is Turkish and we travel a lot to Turkey. They unfortunately exist in every single place. In Istanbul they are not such a big problem because you have so many other prople around you.

But as soon as you you get to other cities it’s less fun. As a person that likes to jog in the morning I had stop and turn around and slowly walk away too many times. Some angry, mentally unstable, dog would block the way. Sometimes they chase you. I have seen other runners being chased and bitten by dogs. Especially in the morning they get aggressive. I have also seen packs of dogs attacking normal dogs in leaches. Of course they also carry rabies.

According to my wife stray dogs were not so common when she was young, but the population has exploded since then. She and her mother also dislikes them.

It doesn’t help that there is almost no one working on the problem. I know Istanbul has some organisation that will vaccinate and neuter stray dogs. Otherwise locals seems to have some twisted sense of animal wellfare going where they believe putting a domesticated dog on the street is an ok thing to do, since other locals will take care of it. Never mind they get malnourished, get aggressive and are obviously completely unstable mentally. A broken leg, an infected wound? Who cares, as long as they can roam around free and multiply as much as they want.

I have no idea how this became the norm but I really hope it will change!

[csomar]

It's a thing where I live too (Tunisia). After the revolution, the government became loose and dogs multiplied. Where I live, there is a pack of 40-50 in front of the building. They survive on trash and some neighbors feed them regularly, so they are well fed and friendly. Most people here are not married or don't have kids, plus most of them have cars. I would not be comfortable having a kid walking around with these dogs (although they are friendly so far).

[ilaksh]

I think part of the issue is that removing them from the streets requires two things which are pretty tough: 1) a very large investment to build shelters and 2) euthanizing many thousands of dogs to make more room when the shelters are full.

[Veen]

I found the same in Sofia, Bulgaria. It's alright in the heavily populated areas, but the area I was staying in had large packs of stray dogs and the nearby park was full of them.