Installed in the city of Istanbul, these machines feed stray dogs in exchange for plastic bottles that are no longer used as a means of payment.
The operation is very simple, once someone deposits their bottles for recycling, the food is released at the bottom of the machine.
There is no cost to the city or to the person carrying the bottles, and the company covers the cost of the dog’s food with whatever it takes.
The benefit is therefore twofold, because in addition to recycling plastic, they feed the dogs that roam the streets who mostly depend on the inhabitants of the neighborhood for food. It is estimated that in the city of Istanbul, stray dogs could number more than 150,000.
The vending machine could help these animals have better lives and by promoting recycling in the city, humans can too.
Istanbul, land of stray dogs and cats
For decades, the presence of dogs and cats has been the protagonists of everyday life in the city of the Bosporus
Stray, well-fed, stylish dogs and cats, walking and sleeping soundly through the city of Istanbul as if its streets belong to them. A somewhat curious sight for those of us who come to the bustling Turkish city from any corner of Europe. Why are these animals here, even occupying cafeteria chairs without regret, being fed by their neighbors? Why are they treated and identified but do they stay in the streets?
“They would not budge even if the Sultan himself passed by,” explained forcefully the American writer Mark Twain in the middle of the 19th century. He was referring to the hundreds of thousands of dogs who, along with many other cats, made the city of the Bosporus their own.
All are well looked after and fed by their neighbors in the neighborhood, and many of them are even identified. They guard the cemeteries, they take the chairs from the cafeterias without anyone daring to cause them to leave, they sit next to those waiting at the port or they take a nap at sunset in the middle of the bus stop . No one is surprised there, these animals are “one more”. A love-hate story – which ended in love – which began centuries ago. A bond between the people of Istanbul and their stray dogs and cats that has remained intact over the decades, and that continues to surprise those who come to the city for the first time. This has been our case. We visited this city for the first time a few weeks ago and we could not avoid investigating this particular circumstance. What about dogs and cats in the city of mosques?
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