Urban animals

Given that stray cats and dogs are finding it increasingly difficult to find food owing to the restriction on people's movements, the Municipality of Thessaloniki in northern Greece has launched a campaign with the help of volunteers to ensure that most of them are fed daily. 

The endeavor is sponsored by two companies that have provided food for dogs and cats.

As many as 170 species of birds have been observed so far in the Vacaresti Natural Park (PNV), with the lesser black-backed gull being the latest to be spotted there. "We have just reached 170 species of birds observed in the park.

A new case of African swine fever has been registered in Vitosko-Studena State Game Reserve, Damyan Damyanov, Director of Southwestern State Enterprise, told Focus Radio-Pirin.

The government adopted a report on the implementation of the municipal programs for the control of the population of stray dogs on the territory of Bulgaria in 2016, BGNES reported.

A Turkish district has marked its anniversary of freedom from invasion with a parade of hunted boars, causing outrage among animal rights activists.

The municipality in the Istanbul district of Eyüp has allegedly shot over 100 stray dogs with tranquilizer guns and loaded them into cars to put them elsewhere, stirring the anger of animal rights activists.

An animal lover in the northwestern province of Kırıkkale has helped a stray dog, whose back legs were paralyzed after being hit by a car, walk with the help of a shopping trolley. 

Mehmet Köksal, 49, said he now expects help from officials to ensure treatment for the dog under better conditions. 

A mild winter and long spells of rain have raised fears of a reappearance of West Nile virus, which claimed 35 lives last summer.

Georgios Konstantos, a public health expert at the Attica Regional Authority in charge of spraying, told Kathimerini that his department started spraying in early April in order to curb mosquito numbers ahead of the summer.