Make that millions.It's just one of the other things that I despise about Muslims. They do not like dogs.
Don't get carried away, the United States puts down thousands of dogs a year and I don't hear you complaining about it.
"Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats. Each year, approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized (1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats)."
www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics
This is another 'love to hate Muslims' thread. Compared to what the US does, this incident is small potatoes. I lived in Turkey for 2 years, over ten years ago. During the time I was there, dogs were becoming the 'thing.' That is those with money, the middle class and above, were beginning to acquire dogs, pedigrees mostly, as family pets. You would see them proudly walking their dogs along the streets and in the parks. Pets, cats and dogs, were very popular in general. There were veterinary clinics in every neighborhood. I took my cat with me when I lived there and found many vet clinics were available to me, and they had the most modern equipment and methods. They treats dogs and cats, just like our clinics do.
The idea that 'Muslims see dogs as unclean' assumes that all Muslims believe in and adhere to all the ideas of Islam, though those ideas may be more than 2,000 years old. Modern, educated Muslims do not believe in or follow many old ideas in the Koran, just like modern, educated Christians don't follow many old ideas in the Bible.
I have seen feral cats and dogs in Turkey, but I've also seen that in Greece, as much as in Turkey.
It wasn't that long ago that the type of sensitive and humane ideas that are now prevalent in the US were not part of our culture. The 'Humane Society' put to sleep dogs and cats after 3 days if they were not claimed or adopted; I remember it being that way when I was young.
The self righteousness, ignorance and bigotry is this thread is based on a very short memory of our own culture and on the 'I love to hate Muslims' philosophy.
I totally agree - and that is why I support the efforts of groups like Vafa. The Iranian government is pretty explicit in attemtping to curtail dog ownership and the ability of people to even walk their pets in public. In that sense - they aren't too different then China's outlawing of keeping pets for a long time. Both equate it to western culture, which they adamently oppose. Instead of simply villafying an entire religion we should be cheering those groups that bravely try to change things for animals around the world. But that wouldn't make a good OP.
It's muslim society not all muslims get it straight