Firstly, all these different types of animals should not be kept within the same enclosure as they all have different dietary requirements, and the fact that bigger animals will naturally bully smaller animals when food is in short supply - I saw a chicken pinning a rabbit down by the neck, and a duck pecking a small guinea pigs fur out. This may sound comical, but is very serious and shows a complete disregard for the animals' welfare. Yes I am aware of the fencing in the middle, but this only serves to stop the guinea pigs getting into the area with the pond, but does not prevent other animals getting into the guinea pig area - which they clearly do pretty regularly.
Secondly, these animals are seriously undernourished, which can be seen by the poor condition of their coats of most of the smaller animals, which again compounds the fact that larger animals are able to get the food more than the smaller animals. Me and my partner managed to feed them on a almost nightly basis and seen a drastic improvement in just a week in some of the poorer animals. The undernourished can clearly be seen by the lack and to a point almost non existance of faeces from the animals inside the enclosure.
Thirdly, Rabbits and guinea pigs need access to grass/hay at all times as this is a dietary requirements to provide dietary fibers for the animals, otherwise known as "roughage". I tried to educate the staff at this restaurant that this is nessessary for them, but they couldnt really care less.
Lastly, the unsupervision of children within the animal area, and this is partly the fault of parents as well as staff. Small children in particular should be supervised and educated in the handling of small animals. A few nights ago me and my partner were deeply disturbed to see a small boy grab a guinea pig by the neck and throw it back in the pen after it tried to nip him (which is an understandable reaction to be grabbed by the neck) - this animal was deeply traumatised by the incident and looked physically injured. I came back the next night to check the status of the animal and it had magically disappeared from the pen and none of the staff could explain where the animal was. I had took a picture of it after the incident so I showed them the exact animal in question.
I am at this exact moment in progress of speaking with Turkey Animal rights charity SED (Society for the Education of Social Responsibilities) to investigate the incident and the other animals being held in the enclosure.
Unfortunately I have now left Turkey and I am back in the UK and would greatly appreciate anyone who is still there or is about to go would help me in monitoring the progress of the animals and/or helping educate the staff on looking after these animals, and indeed if you have children please ensure that the proper supervision is being undertook with them and these animals.
I will state that I am not looking to have these animals removed in the first instance, as they would most likely just be euphanised if no one can take care of them. I would much rather that they are just looked after properly.
Anyone still there or just going..... Please feed these animals, ensuring the smaller animals can get the food as well as larger animals, and if possible make the staff feed them the proper food they need.
The rabbits and guinea pigs need fresh vegetables as I am not aware of anywhere selling food specific for these animals in the vicinity. Lettuce, Carrots, aubergines are great for them.
The chickens and ducks can get corn or other cereals such as wheat/oats (even supermarker breakfast cereal form), however these animals will eat any bugs they can find which at least gives them some advantage over the other animals.
Thanks for reading
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Col 