Turkish Angoras in Ankara Zoo...
... or on
the road investigating the Turkish Angora
I've
been looking for my dream cat for long time. I knew exactly, what
I wanted her to be: a white, odd-eyed, female
Turkish Angora. A healthy robust kitten, my little breed
being founded on.
Contacting several native breeders, my
phone bills increased astronomically. I searched and found
contacts in the web, even an advertisement was put, but I didn't
find my dream kitten. During that time I became acquainted with a
lot of breeders including their Philosophies. I also
came along with quite a few Turkish Angoras. That was very
interesting. We talked and I learned a lot. I developed my own
imaginations more and more.
In Bochum I had the chance to take a look
at some Turks which were imported from Ankara Zoo and I
was enthusiastic about them. I would have loved to get one of
them! But the export of white Turkish cats, especially odd-eyed
ones, is illegal.
Back in Munich, I tried to obtain an export
license from the Turkish government- and was extremely happy when
I actually got it.
This was my first portion of luck, without
it wouldn't have worked. Equipped with names, addresses and many
valuable tips for the practical procedure (which we got from
those friendly and helpful breeders in Bochum) we started to plan
our trip to Turkey. Besides the export regulations you have to
pay attention to several import conditions, especially if you
want to import a very young, maybe still not vaccinated animal.
So we went on our trip to Ankara, the source
where from the Turkish Angora (=Ankara ) once, after
nearly dying out, in the 60s made her way around the globe again.
When we arrived, we rented a car and
visited the Zoo, before we looked for a hotel. I had heard and
read a number of things about the Zoo and had seen pictures in
the web, that did not appeal to me. Latest reports however were
very positive. Altogether the informations were so contradictory,
that I didn't know what to expect.
With very mixed feelings we entered the
zoo, looked for the way to the cathouse and
stayed in devout admiration. There they were! A short moment had
to be enough that day. Being late we hurried to the
administration building, to submit our request.
Anyway
this first sight was reassuring , friendly white cat faces looked
towards us being very interested. We were prepared for the
language barrier with a letter and several notes in Turkish. What
we couldn't know was, that the director, who the letter was for,
was on vacation. With hands and feet they told us to come back on
Monday morning. A bit disappointed we left to look for a hotel.
That weekend we were on the road day and
night, investigating the Turkish Angora. At first sight I
couldn't spot an odd-eyed kitten in the zoo, so we wanted to take
any other chance to look around. Strangers searched
advertisements in newspapers for something along these lines,
made phone calls for us and guided us to remote districts, where
someone wanted to sell an Ankara
Kedisi (Ankara - cat). With our wish for odd eyes ( they are
called Van Kedisi) there was further confusion.
Well, these trips brought us together with
many friendly people and a lot of cats. There were plenty of
misunderstandings and quite a lot to laugh. We found everything-
but not my dream cat. As colored Angoras are nothing of special
quality in the eyes of Turkish people, you can frequently see
them roaming around the streets.
In the streets and parks of Ankara we saw,
petted, fed and photographed many colored Angoras, a pretty one
was blacksmoke.
They vary extremely in type and fur. But each of them has that
charming friendly character, like we know it from the Turks in
Germany.
I exceptionally liked a 2
½ year old, female, black/white cat, which lived in a smoky
nightclub. She had probably chosen this place to live because of
her good connections to the cook. A dream of a Turkish Angora!
Graceful and elegant with an almost endless long tail, a fine
slender head with big, well set ears and a wonderful character.
Unfortunately I only succeeded in taking a photo of one of her kittens
.
Monday morning we punctually returned to
the office of the zoo. What a big surprise! The director had been
informed of our visit and already expected us. I'm sure that
wouldn't have happened here in Germany. He, his assistant and the
animal-keepers were extremely friendly. They did not speak German
neither very good English and we do not speak Turkish, so there
were limits to serious informative conversation.
We
could walk all around the cathouse and I had enough time to see
everything and photograph it. Even though the cats there
certainly didn't have the personal attention they deserve, the
keeping conditions were far better than I had expected. In- and
open-air enclosures are sufficient large the indoor
rooms heatable. There are litter boxes and baskets for every
group, the toilets were clean. The open-air enclosure
is 1/3 concrete over, 2/3 of the floor space consists of soil and
grass. Bushes, which spend shade, are planted partially. Cat
doors are integrated, so the animals can chose themselves, where
they want to go.
In the zoo the Angoras differ in type as well. They are not bred by a standard there. The old existing bloodlines are maintained by specific matings.A studbook has been written since the beginning of breeding Angoras in the zoo.
I
couldn't see any aggressions between the cats. The cat groups are
mixed, mostly one stud, 1-2 females and 1-4 kittens differently
aged but never more than 5-7 animals in a group and cage. The
space proportions of some breeders in our country are worse.
Although I saw only white adult Angoras, there
were red/redsilver?
tabby, black/white nonagouti
and black tabby blotched/white
kittens..
Only a few cats looked neglected and
shaggy, most of them were very clean
and nice. Each of them was curious and friendly, but not all are
tame. At least I wasn't able to touch each of them. In order to
determine the sex of one odd eyed kitten some people had to go
through a lot of hassle before the kitten could be caught. It
rushed inside, then out again, into a bush and so on. Waste of
time, it was a tomcat. I felt awful about all the trouble I had
caused!
We visited the zoo every day up to our departure.
And then suddenly during feeding we discovered my dream cat.
Those baby-blue eyes one day before, now showed a fine gray
shimmer on one eye. The eye color began to change!
This was my second portion of luck. My
little star from the Zoo of Ankara! All people shared my
joy. The formalities were finished quickly. I didn't let loose of
Yildiz any more. No more interests for the studbook (shame on
me!), only some essential practical information, which I could
find out myself: She was full of temperament, funny and
affectionate, just as a kitten should be. She talked a lot and
bolt down her food. The parents are both white, a green-eyed
pretty female and a blue-eyed
male. I took pictures of both. In my opinion they both could hear
well. They showed no kinked tails. Yildiz has a black hat. The
left eye is blue, the right one is green. She was the strongest
kitten of the litter, all 3 were white. Now she's mine and I will
never give her back! The next day we happily departed with our Turkish
girl.
Although we had an export license, there
was a delay at the customs clearance. With white cats the
officers adhere strictly to the law. The joke of one officer
"Cat stays Turkey!" put me completely out. He is
probably still amused by the sheet-white face I had in that
moment!
Enclosing
some further remarks: Much to my delight Yildiz is as social and
human-related as Turkish Angoras, raised in a loving hobby
breeders house in this country. Exactly these characteristics, I
deeply love this breed for. The doubts I had, to bring a
semi-wild zoo animal into our house, were unnecessary. It seems,
that it depends much more on the right time to integrate them and
that the lovable nature is being trained by the early contact
with humans. Yildiz had no flees nor mites, only a mild
Kokzidiosis without diarrhea. One eye was slightly infected but
that was quickly repaired. Otherwise I am very contended with her
healthiness. As a precaution I stayed with Yildiz at my mother's
house who has no own cats. Meanwhile Ed went home to our Neuters.
First vaccinations and blood-tests were done, she was tested FIV-
FeLV- and FIP negative. Then we moved to her final home. We
repeated the tests at the age of 16 weeks. Everything OK. She got
all important vaccinations, and thus the base for a long happy
cat life.
Yildiz'
intelligence and flexibility is remarkable. She copes easily with
new situations. No matter if mom's dog or the shots at the vet,
she quickly comes to an arrangement with everything. Her trust in
the humans and her self-confidence can hardly be destroyed.
White cats can be deaf. Breeding white cats
needs circumspection, know-how, sense of responsibility and if
necessary, sometimes renunciation if it turns out, that something
is wrong with one or another cat. I couldn't discover any
abnormal hearing at Yildiz. Meanwhile she did the audiometric
test. Only this way you can find out weather it's OK. The result
was as expected, her hearing is normal on both ears. It doesn't
seem to be true, that 95% of the Turks in Ankara zoo are
deaf, as I read very often. At least these days it doesn't seem
to be true anymore- if it ever was. I can't believe that just my dream
cat is among those 5% cats, that can hear.
Nobody can be t h a t lucky, or what do you think?
© Copyright by S. Loeschke
November 1997
