A WARNING TO TOURISTS - POISON ALERT

[starchild01]

We received a phone call last week from our friends in Marmaris, who run the F******* N*** fishing boat. Many tourists know this trip by the Siberian Husky they owned named Mocha. Mocha was Linda and Ibo's baby...she went everywhere with them. Always first to jump off the boat when it moored for a swim. The news that we received was that Mocha had died...not a very nice death, but quickly at the hands of poisoners. I attach quotes from a very upset Linda.

1) and having a run and play with the family on the GREEN SEA BEACH. She started to act funny - and withhin minutes showed all the signs of poisoning, every effort was made by owners and tourists alike to save her, but within 20 minutes she was dead. This 4 year old healthy, fully immunised and in excellent health Husky female succumbed so quickly to the virulent poison that she came into contact with on the Boat

2) POISONED BEACHES IN MARMARIS AND ICMELER - TOURISTS WITNESS SENSELESS TRAGIC DEATH OF BOAT DOG MOCHA It is with great regret i have to inform you that MOCHA the Siberian Husky belonging to the F****** N*** BOAT Ibrahim Gun and his wife Linda was POISONED on the GREEN SEA BEACH between Icmeler and Turunc on the 31st Of July 2009. having jumped from the boat to swim in the sea with the customers who were on board

3) IT IS DISGUSTING THAT POISON IS ON THE BEACHES WHERE TOURISTS GO! The beaches should be off limits to everyone until all traces have been removed.

4) Having been informed that this practise of laying down poison is quite common in Turkey to eradicate unwanted animals i.e. wild boar and other livestock, insects namely Giant Hornets etc. One can question the senility of licencing, distribution and then procurement of the poisons by uneducated people who INDISCRIMINATELY use it.

5) WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR POISON DISTRIBUTION TO BE FULLY LICENCED AND IDENTIFIABLE AND TRACEABLE? IT COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN THE DEATH OF A CHILD OR ADULT COMING INTO CONTACT WITH THE POISON AND INADVERTANTLY TOUCHING THEIR MOUTH OR IT GETTING INTO A CUT.

[Colette]

Been going on for years.

End of every season, poison is put down to kill the stray cats and dogs off

Makes me sick, but everyone on here knows of my fight for the street animals.

Our own Rami in here lost a dog this way.

Don't get me started............

[starchild01]

Sorry Colette, didn't mean to upset you. My husband and I feel exactly the same way, and we are totally devistated as we loved this beautiful dog so much. You may know Linda Gunn...she does a lot of work for the harbour cats in Marmaris, and spends a lot of her own money having these poor animals spayed and feeding them. We are so upset by the news. The people who put this poison down should be hung. There must be some other way of controlling unwanted animals and insects.
Just think what could have happened if a child had got hold of this stuff. It doesn't bear thinking about does it.

Oh my God...I have set myslf off on one now.

[swc24]

This is absolutely disgracefull may be we should all use the complients line to report this as posted by tinkerbelle

by tinkerbelle » 17 Jul 2009 09:38

Alo 179 – Visitor Complaints Hot Line Open
Thursday, 09 July 2009
Earlier this year we reported that the The Governor of Muğla had a survey carried out by a private research company which concluded that 70% of tourists visiting Muğla felt they had been conned during their stay.

The Governor said that the region would never grow its tourist numbers until sharp practice had been outlawed and said he would open up a complaints phone line so that tourists could make their complaints.

True to his word the new hotline has now opened.

The service allows tourists and residents to make complaints about a wide range of subjects and all complaints are followed up and feedback provided to the complainant.

The phone lines are open 24 hours 7 days a week and a range of languages including English are spoken.

There are two ways to contact the multi lingual service:

1. Dial 179 and speak directly to a person; or,
2. Email [email protected]

Fethiye Times contacted the Alo 179 service by phone earlier this week and were impressed by the quality of the English spoken and the efficiency of the service.

We asked if people who lived in the area but who were not strictly tourists could also use the line for complaints.

We were pleasantly surprised when we were told that it was.

The operator explained that the new service was a communication channel for us all to use.

So if you live or are visiting the Muğla area of Turkey and have been ripped off, hoodwinked, bamboozled or mistreated just call 179 with the details.

We’d be interested in hearing your first hand experiences of using the new service. Was it a good service? Were you satisfied with the conclusions? Let us know by emailing [email protected]

I for one will be doing so

Steve

[Colette]

I have even been sent pics of dead cats for evidence it happens, have emailed the council endless times but they dont want to know, so this year I am calling in to see the new mayor for a wee chat

Don't know of Linda but I do get info from the Turunc street cat people. They work with the mayor to make sure these poisonings don't happen.

Worth a try Steve, I spent all last holiday telling any one who would listen about this happening to let people know of it.

[Jozzyd]

Have sent e-mail

[starchild01]

Thank you

[Rami Off Work]

What good is a "hot line" when the result you will get wont be any different than the one you would get of a "chat line" - the mentality has to change first, so give it 50 or so years first.

[starchild01]

Hi Rami. How promising is this...bet they would soon do something if tourism started to drop.

[duffaire]

Hi Rami
I think it is up to the Travel industry, hotel owners, shopkeepers and restaurant/bar owners to get together on some of the issues put on here, especially about Dalaman airport, after all they will be the people to suffer if the tourist don't come mate, we can always go elsewhere, not that we want to, but we may not have a choice if it carries on the way it seems to be going.
Why not have a meeting and find out what is really happening then take your findings to the Mayor, I would assume he has a finacial interest in Icmeler, maybe he should be asked to look at the forum. I agree we shouldn't have to avoid places because they are hassling us, but if they are polite we don't mind, so why have them shut down for this, it's wrong, it's the ones who are rude we want sorting out.

[Colette]

It's the poisonings we want stopping.

No offence but who cares if a man is rude to you, ignore him and walk away, if a child picks this poison up and eats it what happens then.

Rami is right, the mentality and attitude has to change, Icmeler residents need to accept and work towards a long term goal with the animals over there and the mayor needs to stop the poisonings and work with the people.

This needs stopping before it gets out of hand .................

[Rami Off Work]

All the things you guys say make sense to me and I agree. But again, the mentality of the people must change and for this you need a strong education. Since it is not possible to educate the entire population over night, thats why i said, give it 50 years or so. I have in the past brought up all these issues and I am sure many people also do bring up these issues from time to time however, as you can see, the results are no different to what they were 10-15 years ago. I dont give up, but just frustration I guess.

[starchild01]

Hi Rami, Thought that you may like to see the response that I got from Turizm Cagri ve Danisma Merkezi Mugla to the email I sent to them.

Dear Sır/Madam,

I recieved your mail and I understood your sorrow about your beloved dog’s unfortunate death.

Although there are law rules against animal cruelty, before hand it is not easy to follow unexpected poisinings and etc. I try to collect some information on animal rights from the Muğla Environmental Department. They suggested that, according to Turkish Law (in number 5199 article 28 J paragraph) cruelty on animmals is forbidden therefore there will be serious punishment.

However, in your case tracing the evidents and finding the responsible person for the killing, would be more productive if you had complain the day and tıme that incident toke place. Yet we stil like to recieve, if you have any documents to share with us about the vet’s report or any related papers.

I will be expecting reports on that and then I can pass it to further research.

Loking forward to hear from you.

Regards,
Arzu


I forwarded this reply to my friend in Marmaris who's dog it was, and this morning, I received this reply from them:

Ibo rang up the Coastguard that day, they said if we can tell them who did it they might be able to do something, OBVIOUSLY WE DONT KNOW WHO PUT THE POISON DOWN AND HOW WOULD WE FIND OUT????

LAST TIME I SAW TOTAL CRUELTY A WOMAN SENSLESSLY SMASHING A KITTEN ON THE FLOOR REPEATEDLY - I got the kitten off her and went straight to the police. THE POLICE DIDNT WANT TO KNOW! And that was TRIED to be reported to them and we knew who the person was NOTHING CAME OF THAT AND THE WOMAN IS STILL ABOUT!

THERE IS NO GOVERNING BODY THAT DEALS WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY - IF THERE IS I DONT KNOW OF IT NOR DO THE POLICE OR COAST GUARD.
Could the MUGLA ENVIROMENTAL DEPARTMENT contact us perhapse to take this matter further?

The beach where the poison was on is still open for CHIDREN AND ADULTS TO GO ON, No one wants to DO anything!

We didnt video or photograph Mocha death or even get chance to take the dog to a vet being on a boat on the sea, we had to bury her on the Paradise island immediately as we had customers on the boat who WITNESSED this - They are more than willing to testify as to what happened.

CAPTAIN IBRAHIM GUN

Lesley - PLEASE POST THIS UP!

Rami, I now understand completely what you said in your last posting on the forum. What a great pity the authorities are not prepared to take action against those who commit illegal acts. Turkey is such a beautiful country, and this sort of attitude does not do a lot to encourage tourism. Maybe, as you say, in 50 years time.

[Colette]

What a great pity the authorities are not prepared to take action against those who commit illegal acts.

and there in lies the problem.

At the end of the day WHO will profit most from committing these crimes ?

[jambogarry]

IN NO WAY DO I AGREE with what has happened to theese poor dogs/cats ( poison ), I do feel that I must tell about an incident ( s) that happened to us this year in Icmeler.
Twice my youngest two kids where bitten by dogs while in Icmeler, First incident was by a stray dog ( we think ) and the second was by a dog who restaurant owners thought was a very tame child friendly dog who they would let play in the kids play area of a restaurant. Needless to say both dogs got daddys size nine shoe kicked up the their A****.

My deepest sympathy goes to owners who have lost family pets due to this cruel poison act. Yet I also think locals need to be aware of a very serious problem regarding dogs and tourists.
I would like to add that this has not dettered us from booking our trip to Icmeler next year.
To place poison over the place is not the answer.


Jambogarry.