STORY: Cat town built for stray cats in central Türkiye
DATELINE: July 24, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:30
LOCATION: Ankara
CATEGORY: SOCIETY
 
SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Cat Town in Türkiye's central province of Kayseri (courtesy of the Kocasinan Municipality in Kayseri province)
 
STORYLINE:
 
Cat Town, a sanctuary for stray cats in central Türkiye, provides a comfortable living space for these furry animals.
 
Renowned for its stray cats that appear almost everywhere on the streets, Türkiye traditionally has a lot of cat lovers looking after them by providing shelter and food.
 
Wandering the streets of a Turkish city, it is common to see small containers by the sides of buildings made as shelters for the stray cats, and pet food doled out by the city's inhabitants for them.
 
The Kocasinan Municipality in the central province of Kayseri has gone further and established five months ago a 600-square-meter Cat Town to provide a sanctuary for these animals.
 
The felines have all they need in the sanctuary: playgrounds, bungalow huts, bridges, tunnels, climbing tracks, and scratching trees.
 
Stray cats that are brought to the facility are neutered and placed in a separate place to adapt before joining the other inhabitants of the facility.
 
Mehmet Cingil, a veterinarian, told Xinhua that the sanctuary provides a soothing place for cat lovers who are unable to keep pets at home and cultivates people's affection for cats.
 
According to the veterinarian, there are some 25 felines of different breeds in the sanctuary where kindergarten or primary school students visit on a daily basis. 
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Ankara.
(XHTV)