Article on Turkish Street Dogs

“The Wild Dogs of Istanbul” is an interesting description of this city’s stray dogs written by Bernd Brunner. On one hand, it is full of the assumptions of western attitudes such as saying that “the dogs’ position is a strange one” because they live around, but not with, people (to eastern eyes I suggest this isn’t at all strange). He also describes how residents who feed the dogs living on their street have a “reluctance to take in the animals”, but it only looks like reluctance if you come from a dogs-should-be-pets culture and here is actually describing the normal relationship.

However, on the other hand, the article is certainly written with more open eyes than most descriptions of street dog populations I have read and does give a very good historical and religious perspective.

In it he describes a history where the dogs have not only at times been despised and seen as an unwelcome part of the city but also of animals that were actually valued. For example, he cites traveller accounts from the 17^th century that reported how some rich residents bequeathed money to the dogs while others not only fed them but also treated wounds and provided shelter or straw mats for them to sleep on.

He also highlights the link between the street dog population and a garbage disposal system that gives the dogs access to edible trash. If this was removed the number of street dogs would likely decline but not totally disappear thanks to the age-old informal human-dog relationship that seems to be going strong in Istanbul.