Towns of the Aegean: Dogs of the Streets

As I have mentioned in my other articles, I am travelling through the Aegean region of Turkey and visiting some of the nearby Greek islands. However, presently I am in a beautiful little town called Ilica on the Chesme peninsula, not too far from the important city of Izmir. Ilica’s a little town that grows to immense proportions during the summer season as thousands of tourists…mostly Turkish from Izmir and Istanbul…flock to this tropical paradise in the mid-Aegean region.
Of course, for in Ilica there are very nice sandy beaches and the waters of the sea here, is incredible. Cool, clean, crystal clear, inviting and refreshing. It is no wonder why thousands rush over every year to spend…if you are lucky and have the vacation time available…from June to September.
However, I have been noticing a rather disturbing situation that has been getting more and more noticeable within the last six to seven years that I have been coming here. It is the amount of stray dogs that roam the streets at will. They lie where they please and sleep where they please and do everything else wherever they please. In truth, they act like the town is theirs and we are all just passing migratory birds, here for the summer then off to our colder climes.
I find this situation disturbing, for although people here tell me that the dogs have been looked at by the local veterinarian and have received their shots, I am still weary of packs of dogs roaming the town as if they owned it. They go into the water and scare the little children. And I say, these are not cuddly little pooches, they are all big dogs. I think they are a mix of Labrador with Anatolian Hound, judging by their size.

In any event, I just wanted to put this out there. Maybe someone will mention this to the authorities so that they can begin to pick up these animals and take them to a safe place out in the country. Around Ilica there are many ranch type properties with plenty of space for these dogs to wonder and live happy lives. Anyways, since I have never encountered such a situation, I just wanted to express this curious detail of another wise beautiful little town, Ilica.
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