Neutering

Vets throughout Greece have called a 24-hour strike for Wednesday, in protest against the mandatory sterilization of pets.

The Panhellenic Veterinary Association considers the measure unscientific and ineffective and has expressed concerns about possible negative effects on the health and welfare of animals.

More than 200 dogs live in terrible conditions in the shelter in the Vrabnitsa district in Sofia. This is actually adjacent to the clinic building where they send neutered dogs with post-surgery wounds to recover from anesthesia. They are crammed into 30 cells, dirty, without water, light and space.

The sole solution to the ongoing problem regarding stray animals in Istanbul is to rehabilitate the animals and provide better conditions to them in shelters, Governor Davut Gül has stated.

With incidences of injuries caused by dogs and cats coming to light lately, many residents have shown their discomfort regarding the rising number of street animals in Istanbul.

Istanbul Governor's Office has sent a directive to relevant authorities in all 39 districts to facilitate the sterilization of stray dogs in order to control their population, after people raised concerns following some dog attack incidents in the country.

Dog and cat owners who do not want to have their pets neutered must provide a DNA sample to the Academy of Athens' specialized laboratory, according to a circular issued by the Interior Ministry. 

A woman living in the eastern province of Mardin and known for her resemblance to American actress Marilyn Monroe says that she spends 90 percent of her earnings on stray animals.

The Four Paws animal charity foundation and Sofia Municipality have launched the first in Bulgaria "cat census". The initiative is aimed at tracking the number of stray cats, identifying the feline colonies and analyzing the problem in Sofia, the pilot project will be cover Sofia Yavorov district as mass neutering is also in focus.

A long-awaited law proposal about animal rights that seeks jail terms for anyone who kills, abuses or tortures animals will be presented to the Turkish Parliament within two weeks, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) lawmaker has said.

"We want to do our best to protect the rights of the animals," AKP Deputy Chair Özlem Zengin told Demirören News Agency on Feb. 3.

From the beginning of 2019 to the end of October, 717 dogs from the shelters of municipal enterprise Ecoravnovesie found a new home, for comparison, for the entire 2018, 600 dogs were adopted. During the same period, 2,260 dogs were neutered, and 286 dogs were treated in the municipal veterinary clinic, 374 backyard dogs were neutered, the Sofia Municipality press office reported.

Freida and Kanellos are released at the location where they had been picked up in the town of Argos in the northern Peloponnese, on Thursday, after being spayed and neutered as part of a municipal program that includes vaccinations, microchipping and medical care. [Vassilis Papadopoulos/Eurokinissi]