51 stray animals were found dead in garbage bins outside the Street Animal Rehabilitation and Training Center owned by Gebze Municipality. Animal rights advocates and witnesses have accused municipal workers of killing the animals and discarding their bodies in garbage bags.
Footage shared online shows numerous dead cats and dogs, placed in black garbage bags, lying next to the rehabilitation center’s trash containers. Videos circulating on social media depict animal corpses being removed from torn bags that were pulled out of the containers.
Following the discovery, animal rights advocates rushed to the shelter to investigate the situation.
“We found four of them alive, barely breathing,” said Nimet Ozdemir, main opposition party CHP deputy from Istanbul, who spoke with BBC Turkish. Ozdemir stated that witnesses captured footage of workers sedating two dogs with an injection before placing them in the garbage. She confirmed that 36 dogs and 15 cats were retrieved from the bins.
Ozdemir reported that the dead animals were dumped along with medical waste, including syringes and drugs used to euthanize them. “We pulled four of them out alive, but they were in agony,” she said. According to Ozdemir, the dead animals were found together with their offspring, and the situation posed not only an animal rights issue but also a public health risk.
“Gebze Municipality has failed to follow the necessary procedures for disposing of deceased animals,” she continued. “Dead animals must first be stored in cold storage, then transported in special vehicles and buried properly. Otherwise, this endangers both the public and children.”
In a statement, Gebze Municipality, governed by the ruling AK Party condemned the incident and labeled the footage as “unacceptable.” The statement mentioned that 16 of the dead dogs were collected from the streets, while 3 died in traffic accidents and 10 succumbed to health issues. Regarding the dead cats, 9 were reportedly found dead due to “various reasons,” and 2 died after failing to respond to treatment.
The municipality confirmed that an investigation had been launched and that those involved were suspended pending the outcome. It also stated that the Kocaeli Public Prosecutor’s Office had been informed, and a legal process was underway.
Deputy Ozdemir emphasized that the incident reflects broader concerns about animal rights in Türkiye, especially following recent changes to animal protection laws. The amended law permits the euthanasia of dogs under certain conditions, but cats were not included in this provision, reflecting their deep cultural significance, especially in cities like Istanbul. For centuries, Istanbul’s street cats have been considered part of the city’s unique identity, with locals often providing food and shelter for them.
Main opposition party CHP deputy from Istanbul, Nimet Ozdemir holding dead cats in Gebze animal shelter of Türkiye on October 11, 2024. (Photo via X)
Animal rights groups have also raised alarms over similar incidents in Nigde and Ankara earlier this year, where municipalities were accused of killing stray animals. Both municipalities denied the allegations.
The incident in Gebze has reignited the debate over Türkiye’s treatment of stray animals, a contentious issue that has seen growing tensions between local authorities and animal rights advocates.
Local officials, including main opposition party CHP’s Kocaeli Deputy Nail Ciler, condemned the situation, calling on Gebze Municipality to provide a clear explanation. “This is a disgrace to Gebze. The authorities need to address this immediately,” Ciler said.
Meanwhile, Kocaeli’s governorate confirmed that both judicial and administrative investigations had been launched into the deaths of the animals
This gross video is not recent, granted – but this is still the situation in many US States. And many also still use gas. As here.
The Comments below say it all really …
Author, Unknown:
Yes, I Gas Dogs and Cats for a Living. I’m an Animal Control officer in a very small town in central North Carolina. I’m in my mid thirties, and have been working for the town in different positions since high school. There is not much work here, and working for the county provides good pay and benefits for a person like me without a higher education. I’m the person you all write about how horrible I am.
I’m the one that gasses the dogs and cats and makes them suffer. I’m the one that pulls their dead corpses out smelling of Carbon Monoxide and throws them into green plastic bags. But I’m also the one that hates my job and hates what I have to do.
First off, all you people out there that judge me, don’t. God is judging me, and I know I’m going to Hell. Yes, I’m going to hell. I wont lie, it’s despicable, cold, cruel and I feel like a serial killer. I’m not all to blame, if the law would mandate spay and neuter, lots of these dogs and cats wouldn’t be here for me to gas. I’m the devil, I know it, but I want you people to see that there is another side to me, the devil Gas Chamber man. The shelter usually gasses on Friday morning.
Friday’s are the day that most people look forward to, this is the day that I hate, and wish that time will stand still on Thursday night. Thursday night, late, after nobody’s around, my friend and I go through a fast food line, and buy 50 dollars worth of cheeseburgers and fries, and chicken. I’m not allowed to feed the dogs on Thursday, for I’m told that they will make a mess in the gas chamber, and why waste the food.
So, Thursday night, with the lights still closed, I go into the saddest room that anyone can every imagine, and let all the doomed dogs out out their cages.
I have never been bit, and in all my years doing this, the dogs have never fought over the food. My buddy and I, open each wrapper of cheeseburger and chicken sandwich, and feed them to the skinny, starving dogs.
They swallow the food so fast, that I don’t believe they even taste it. There tails are wagging, and some don’t even go for the food, they roll on their backs wanting a scratch on their bellies. They start running, jumping and kissing me and my buddy.
They go back to their food, and come back to us. All their eyes are on us with such trust and hope, and their tails wag so fast, that I have come out with black and blues on my thighs.. They devour the food, then it’s time for them to devour some love and peace. My buddy and I sit down on the dirty, pee stained concrete floor, and we let the dogs jump on us. They lick us, they put their butts in the air to play, and they play with each other. Some lick each other, but most are glued on me and my buddy.
I look into the eyes of each dog. I give each dog a name. They will not die without a name. I give each dog 5 minutes of unconditional love and touch. I talk to them, and tell them that I’m so sorry that tomorrow they will die a gruesome, long, torturous death at the hands of me in the gas chamber. Some tilt their heads to try to understand. I tell them, that they will be in a better place, and I beg them not to hate me. I tell them that I know I’m going to hell, but they will all be playing with all the dogs and cats in heaven.
After about 30 minutes, I take each dog individually, into their feces filled concrete jail cell, and pet them and scratch them under their chins. Some give me their paw, and I just want to die. I just want to die. I close the jail cell on each dog, and ask them to forgive me. As my buddy and I are walking out, we watch as every dog is smiling at us and them don’t even move their heads. They will sleep, with a full belly, and a false sense of security.
As we walk out of the doomed dog room, my buddy and I go to the cat room. We take our box, and put the very friendly kittens and pregnant cats in our box. The shelter does not keep tabs on the cats, like they do the dogs. As I hand pick which cats are going to make it out, I feel like I’m playing God, deciding whose going to live and die.
We take the cats into my truck, and put them on blankets in the back. ‘ Usually, as soon as we start to drive away, there are purring cats sitting on our necks or rubbing against us. My buddy and I take our one way two hour trip to a county that is very wealthy and they use injection to kill animals.
We go to exclusive neighborhoods, and let one or two cats out at a time.
They don’t want to run, they want to stay with us. We shoo them away, which makes me feel sad.
I tell them that these rich people will adopt them, and if worse comes to worse and they do get put down, they will be put down with a painless needle being cradled by a loving veterinarian. After the last cat is free, we drive back to our town.
It’s about 5 in the morning now, about two hours until I have to gas my best friends.
I go home, take a shower, take my 4 anti-anxiety pills and drive to work.. I don’t eat, I can’t eat. It’s now time, to put these animals in the gas chamber. I put my ear plugs in, and when I go to the collect the dogs, the dogs are so excited to see me, that they jump up to kiss me and think they are going to play.
I put them in the rolling cage and take them to the gas chamber. They know. They just know.
They can smell the death. They can smell the fear. They start whimpering, the second I put them in the box. The boss tells me to squeeze in as many as I can to save on gas. He watches. He knows I hate him, he knows I hate my job. I do as I’m told. He watches until all the dogs, and cats (thrown in together) are fighting and screaming. The sounds is very muffled to me because of my ear plugs. He walks out, I turn the gas on, and walk out.
I walk out as fast as I can. I walk into the bathroom, and I take a pin and draw blood from my hand. Why? The pain and blood takes my brain off of what I just did. In 40 minutes, I have to go back and unload the dead animals. I pray that none survived, which happens when I overstuff the chamber. I pull them out with thick gloves, and the smell of carbon monoxide makes me sick. So does the vomit and blood, and all the bowel movements. I pull them out, put them in plastic bags.
They are in heaven now, I tell myself. I then start cleaning up the mess, the mess, that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not spay or neutering your animals. The mess that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not demanding that a vet come in and do this humanely. You ARE THE TAXPAYERS, DEMAND that this practice STOP!
So, don’t call me the monster, the devil, the gasser, call the politicians, the shelter directors, and the county people the devil. Heck, call the governor, tell him to make it stop.
As usual, I will take sleeping pills tonight to drown out the screams I heard in the past, before I discovered the ear plugs. I will jump and twitch in my sleep, and I believe I’m starting to hallucinate.
This is my life. Don’t judge me. Believe me, I judge myself enough.
******************
This is the current situation:
U.S. States With Highest And Lowest Shelter Kill Rates
Shelters across the country are full and many over capacity with adoptable dogs and cats. While each shelter does their best to find a loving home for each animal, hundreds of thousands (355,000) are euthanized each year due to lack of space and resources.
There are more homeless pets than adopters and it forces numerous shelters to make tough choices. Veterinarians.org published a study that analyzed the intake and outcome data from U.S. animal shelters and ranked the highest and lowest shelter kill rates.
They examined 3,261 shelters which covers roughly 93.5% of the total sheltered animals in the country. They found some heartbreaking results but also some states who are completely no-kill and inspiring others to do the same.
The bad news…
Mississippi has the highest kill rate of 18.3%, which is 3 times the nation-wide average. North Carolina and Alabama come next with high kill rates (over 14%). Less than half of the shelters in these states are no-kill.
However, when it comes to actual numbers Texas comes in with highest number of animals killed in a year – over 61,000. California comes next followed by North Carolina, Florida and Alabama.
The study found, “Five states account for half of all cats and dogs killed in U.S. animal shelters: California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Alabama.”
The solution to this heartbreaking problem is to encourage more people to adopt and give shelters the support and assistance they need to transform into a no-kill shelter.
The good news…
52% of U.S. animal shelters are no-kill, which has doubled since 2016. Best Friends Animal Society has a goal of making all shelters no-kill by 2025. They want to ensure that all dogs and cats get the chance to find a loving home – no matter how long it takes.
But shelters cannot do it alone. Best Friends shared, “For far too long, the burden has been placed on shelters themselves to save the lives of the animals in their care. It is imperative that the community and local government provide their shelters with the support they need to succeed.”
They help guide shelters toward no-kill status by giving them the tools they need to succeed.
According to Best Friends, “The most effective path to no-kill includes a combination of (1) collaborative partnerships and coalitions among animal shelters, animal rescue groups and community members working toward a collective goal; (2) proven programs and best practices designed to save the most lives possible; and (3) data-driven decision-making for each individual community.”
The only two no-kill states are Delaware and New Hampshire. Rhode Island, North Dakota, and Maine round out the top five with under 1% kill rate.
You can check and see if your local shelter is a no-kill shelter through the pet lifesaving dashboard. If not, see how you can help.
Best Friends reminds people, “Saving the lives of dogs and cats in animal shelters is the responsibility of each community. Animal shelters and the staff who work there can only create and sustain lifesaving programs if they have community support and participation. Working together thoughtfully, honestly and collaboratively is what makes true no-kill possible.”
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(Google)
**************
30 Jul 2019
Shelter killing is the leading cause of death for homeless dogs and cats in the United States. It doesn’t have to be. This is the story of animal sheltering, which was born of compassion and then lost its way. It is the story of the No Kill movement, which says we can and must stop the killing. It is about heroes and villains, betrayal and redemption. And it is about a social movement as noble and just as those that have come before. But most of all, it is a story about believing in the community and trusting in the power of compassion.
Please write to/call the above contacts. They full well know what they are doing, and the social media backlash directed at them has been blocked (by them) on FB.
VICTORY: San Antonio agrees to stop hiding comments on government-run animal shelter’s Facebook page
From a report done after a site visit in 2022 – there were numerous issues even then:
Dog euthanasia area
Pre-euthanasia holding kennels.
The incinerator is situated next to a series of euthanasia holding kennels. Though I did not get to observe the entire euthanasia process, what I observed and learned from numerous staff members is that the dogs are driven in a Kubota or walked on a catch pole to the euthanasia holding kennels and once all are gathered for euthanasia, they are walked through the door into the euthanasia area where they are euthanised and then disposed of in the incinerator. I heard from multiple staff members that the dogs express anxiety and fear behaviours once in the pre-euthanasia kennels due to the smell of death from the euthanasia room that is just a few feet from the kennels.
Euthanasia room and process.
The euthanasia room itself was clean, though it did smell like dead bodies, likely from the cooler where some bodies are stored. The dogs are lifted onto a metal table and euthanized. When I asked a euthanasia supervisor why they are lifted up onto a table rather than the staff getting on the floor with them, he stated it’s hard for the staff to bend over that much so it’s easier on their bodies to euthanise them on the table. The table was steel with nothing on top of it.
.. for the mass murder of animals, basically worldwide, has become fashionable, and implies to uneducated readers that you’re actually doing the poor creatures a favour. That may be so, in VERY few cases, like Mark said with Turkey, “Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill or pose a heath risk would be euthanised“, but it is certainly not applicable to the young, and/or healthy. Done away with because they are considered surplus, unwanted etc.
Next thing we’ll hear is that animals are no longer slaughtered, but “euthanised”. Let’s be clear here: if you kill a human, even with the best intention in the world (terminally ill, extreme suffering, etc.) and call it “Euthanasia” – you are a murderer. End of.
Language is so important. Racism/Speciesim/the subjugation of women – it all started with the language. And when it comes to animals, the abuse (of language) clearly knows no bounds. But we’ll cover that in a separate post. Soon.
Tokyo politician released photographs from inside an ‘euthanasia centre’
Images show the procedure is anything but humane as dogs are gassed
Lawmaker hopes to highlight Japan’s stray policy and encourage debate
Published: 16:53 BST, 25 November 2015 | Updated: 21:41 BST, 25 November 2015
The streets of Tokyo may be free of prowling dogs since its zero-stray policy came into effect but the laws come at a heavy price as one politician has revealed.
Ayaka Shiomura, a lawmaker in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, recently went to visit an euthanasia centre in Japan and shown that the ‘dream box’ used to euthanise the country’s strays are anything but humane.
The excruciating procedure involves putting strays into a gas chamber where they are slowly suffocated with carbon dioxide and the whole process can last as long as 15 minutes, reported People’s Daily Online.
Ayaka Shiomura went to visit an unnamed facility, thought to be in Tokyo where the lawmaker is based, and posted about her experience on her website last month.
Euthanasia facilities like it are part of a zero-stray policy, which stipulates that all unclaimed cats and dogs must be euthanised in a set period of time according to Rocket News 24.
Shiomura explained in her introduction that any animals brought to the facility remains at the shelter for anywhere between three to seven days, depending on local policy.
After that time, if the animal is unclaimed, it will be disposed of.
During Shiomura’s visit, 10 dogs were to be euthanised. Of those, some were thought to be pets as they still had collars on.
The dogs were kept in a cage, which has a back door leading straight into the ‘dream box’ – a romantic name that had little to do with the stark reality of the gas chamber.
The staff at the facility never have to touch the animals as they generally wander in on their own accord.
Once inside, the chamber is locked down and a button is pressed to disperse carbon dioxide into the chamber.
Elisa Allen, Associate Director at PETA, told MailOnline: ‘Death by carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide can be extremely distressing and painful.
‘Cats often slam themselves against their cages, desperately trying to escape. Dogs howl, cry and claw at the metal walls of the chambers while they’re slowly poisoned.’
The cramped gas chamber is equipped with a glass window, which allows the operator to check the procedure is complete.
Through this window, Shiomura captured the final moments of the dogs’ gruesome death through suffocation.
Shiomura described that the dogs were ‘trembling’ before the procedure but this soon became ‘panting’ and eventually ‘collapsing’.
The chamber is gassed for 15 minutes to ensure the dogs are completely dead.
Finally, their remains are dumped into an incinerator to be disposed of.
According to news site TouTiao, Shiomura debated over whether to publish the post but felt that she needed to highlight the issue of animal culling.
She explained that in Japan, there’s around 170,000 stray dogs and cats that are euthanised in this way but the procedure is far from kind.
Shiomura hopes that more people in Japan would consider the consequences of buying a pet before making the purchase.
There are more humane ways to euthanise animals.
Elisa Allen informed MailOnline: ‘Animal shelters around the world condemn the use of such gases, choosing instead euthanasia (‘mercy killing’) by intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital in the case of dogs, cats and animals of similar size, sometimes using other humane methods for smaller or larger animals.
‘When properly performed by caring, well-trained people – one who holds and comforts the animal and another who carefully injects the solution intravenously – euthanasia provides a painless, peaceful release.’
It can be ignored, or at least pushed aside, until one sees faces. Actual faces. We often deal with issues here that involve hundreds, thousands, of individuals – like live export, say – but when you finally look someone in the eye, it gets really difficult.
In the US, many shelters are still kill shelters, with a massive turnover, and with animals often just having a few days, before they are killed. I say killed, because the term “euthanasia” is far too widely used these days for all and sundry. Like the shooting of these 700 koalas in Australia (article on site). In my personal view, so-called euthanasia, certainly of young/healthy individuals without “need” (as in cutting short unbearable suffering), is murder.
Many shelters in the US also still “euthanise” by heart-stick and gassing. I’ve seen both, and believe me, you don’t want to know. When whole litters are places in a metal box, with expectant faces (is this a game??) and wagging tails, and the lid is closed, the gas turned on .. you’ll never again forget the screams .. as I cannot.
So, the “shelter” at San Antonio, TX, is but one of many, who daily kill. It serves as an example, and currently I am seeing the “Euthanasia Capacity List” several times every day, being updated every 15 mins. (!!).
Several of Parliament’s most active and committed supporters of animal welfare, from across the political spectrum, joined us in the House of Commons to learn how a number of outdated and unnecessary animal tests could be ended immediately, through our RAT (Replace Animal Tests) List.
In a productive roundtable discussion, the MPs were shown how six animal tests – which use approximately 80,000 animals every year – are still conducted in the UK despite the availability of appropriate non-animal replacements. The detailed and well-informed session covered what the six tests on animals involve, the barriers to progress, and practical steps for securing an end to the unacceptable practise of testing on animals where replacements are available.
Those present included Steve Race, a member of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee; Alex Mayer, who played a leading role in our petition to the United Nations for a global ban on animal testing for cosmetics, in partnership with The Body Shop, which received eight million signatures to become the largest animal-related petition in history; and Irene Campbell, who Chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Phasing Out Animal Experiments in Medical Research, and led the recent debate on banning testing on dogs.
In recent years, the development of non-animal methods has increased significantly, and they can now replace, wholly or in part, a number of tests on animals across several product sectors.
However, our experience has been that actually replacing tests on animals takes much longer than it should. We have seen how non-animal methods available for assessing skin irritation, skin sensitisation and batch safety have taken years to be adopted and we know that tests on animals are still being conducted to provide this information. This is unacceptable.
In many cases, the problem lies with a lack of clarity from, and enforcement by, regulatory authorities, as well as the absence of a joined-up approach for acceptance of non-animal methods around the world. Since non-animal tests can be cheaper, faster and more accurate than the tests on animals they replace, it is in the interests of animal welfare and good science to speed up their acceptance and to expand their use.
Overcoming these remaining hurdles, so that these tests on animals can finally be fully replaced, is a matter of urgency.
The six tests we discussed were for the assessment of skin irritation, skin sensitisation and eye irritation; routine batch testing of veterinary vaccines; potency testing of Botox samples; and the production of antibodies.
Botox batch testing involves injecting Botulinum toxin into the abdomens of mice. Over three days they become increasingly paralysed, and if left the mice given the higher-level dose will slowly suffocate to death. Approximately half of the mice die during the test and all survivors are killed at the end of the test. Nearly 50,000 of these tests were carried out in the UK in 2023, despite the world’s major Botox manufacturers developing an alternative cell-based test.
For antibody production, animals – including mice, rabbits, sheep, and goats – are used as ‘factories’ to generate large numbers of antibodies. An injection stimulates the animal’s immune system to produce specific types of antibodies – but this often causes harmful side effects before their blood is taken to harvest the antibodies. Animals are killed when they are no longer useful. Phage display technology – awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and endorsed in 2020 by the EU Reference Laboratory for alternatives to animal testing – can be used to produce a wide range of antibodies that are of higher quality, more stable, more relevant and more reproducible than the antibodies produced in animals. They are also much faster and cheaper to produce.
See the full RAT (Replace Animal Tests) List on our website.
Our Head of Public Affairs, Dylan Underhill, said: “People may assume that tests on animals which have non-animal replacements available are no longer conducted, or at least rarely – but the reality is that such tests can continue, and even increase long after the adoption of suitable alternative methods. It was great to see MPs engaging with the issues and statistics behind our RAT List – politicians can play a vital role in overcoming the problems which prevent the adoption of new non-animal tests. This isn’t just about science, it’s about political will too. With the government working on its manifesto commitment to phase-out animal testing, ending these six tests represents a significant but easily-achieved first step towards that aim.”
World Animals Voice 