Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has accelerated the sterilization activities in order to prevent the uncontrolled reproduction of stray animals and to protect their welfare and public health. Within a year, 25 thousand cats and dogs were sterilized by the teams of the Veterinary Affairs Department.
In addition to these works, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality has accelerated rehabilitation efforts to protect the welfare of stray animals and public health. Rehabilitation of approximately 25 thousand cats and dogs was carried out in one year, together with the neutering activities. Thanks to the catch service and volunteer support, more animals were reached.
Umut Polat, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Veterinary Affairs Branch Manager, stated that rehabilitation makes a great contribution to the protection of the environment and public health by keeping the number of stray animals under control. He stated that as a municipality, they carry out approximately 25 thousand sterilization procedures annually and they plan to increase this number with the capture service. He said that they reach an average of 750 dogs monthly and that they carry out these studies in cooperation with non-governmental organizations. He stated that they determined the locations by working with the volunteers and delivered the stray animals to the centers under the supervision of physicians.
The number of sterilization studies has doubled and the dogs that are sterilized in the operating room at the Pako Social Life Campus in Bornova Gökdere are released to the areas where they were taken after they regain their health. Umut Polat said that after the sterilization process, the operation wound healed and the general condition of the animal was found to be good, and the animals were returned to the places where they were taken. He stated that 8 veterinarians are on duty for the operations and the number of sterilizations, which is around 10-12 thousand annually, has doubled in the last one and a half years.
Umut Polat emphasized that their main goal is to keep the stray animal population at a certain level and that rehabilitation is very important for the welfare and health of animals. At the same time, he stated that they are carrying out these studies in order to live more harmoniously with these creatures that we live with.