A total of 15 dog skulls and a number of bones have been discovered in two burial chambers dating from 1,000 BC in the necropolises of the Van-Yoncatepe Castle in eastern Turkey. The finds were a dog skeleton in burial chamber M5 and 14 dog skulls and plenty of bones in burial chamber M6. It was determined on examination that the skeleton found in burial chamber M5 was an 11-12-year female dog, and that the skulls unearthed from burial chamber M6 belonged to dogs with an age range of seven to eight months to 12-13 years. In the latter chamber, however, except for one skull whose sex could not be determined, one was ascertained to belong to a female dog and the rest to males. Calculations of 20 different indices and ratios were made on the skulls. This showed that these skulls were of the dolichocephalic type. It was observed that there were signs of a widespread periodontal disease and alveolar recession. Enamel hypoplasia and abscess chambers detected on the teeth, and deformations observed in the hard palate were evidence enough to suggest that these were undernourished dogs. There were also some facial fractures, which were noticed to have occurred before death. On the other hand, examination carried out on the bones revealed that the dogs were of medium size, and that they were likely to have had a withers height of 50-55 cm. The data obtained from both the burial chambers brought to light the fact that these dogs were more of the hunting or working types.

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ABSTRACT:In this study, veterinary students and veterinary educators from Firat Veterinary School, Istanbul Veterinary School and Selcuk Veterinary School were surveyed to evaluate their a�itudes to animal use in research. Data were collected from 330 students and 204 educators by personal interviews. All participants showed anthropocentric a�itudes toward animal use in research. Most of the participants agreed on items regarding the animal tests being easier, more scientific, more common, more economical and more reliable than alternative methods, but they also signified that they did not agree with the item indicating that the animal experimentation is more conscience. In conclusion, we can state that both the veterinary students and the educators are in a complete dilemma in the discussions regarding the animal experimentation. In order to avoid the negative circumstances that can arise from this dilemma, it could be said that veterinary schools should be supported in this aspect with related courses to be included within their curriculum.

ABSTRACT:The authors examined the a�itudes of veterinary practitioners in Turkey towards animals' right to life. For this purpose, a telephone questionnaire was applied on a total of 303 practitioners located in four provinces in Turkey. The overall response rate was 82%. The respect for right to life was valued slightly over neutral. According to the 5-point Likert scale, the average value scored by the participants for the items of views about animals' right to life was found as 3.25. Type of practice (pet clinics: 3.41), gender (females: 3.63), perceived responsibility (to animal: 3.48), keeping a pet (yes: 3.34) and membership in a society (yes: 3.67) had a statistically significant influence on a�itudes towards animals' right to life. Independent variables explained 87% of the variance in a�itudes, with most of the variance accounted for by perceived responsibility.

In the 2015 excavation season, an east–west oriented burial (2015-Grave-14) built with large dimension stone blocks was unearthed on the south edge of “Area IVi” at the Balatlar Church in Sinop, on the northeastern Black Sea coast of Turkey. In this grave, which is dated between the end of the 6th century AD and the first half of the 7th century AD, a human skeleton was found with the head to the west and a cat skeleton was carefully placed next to the right femur. This study on the burial and the cat skeleton within it shows that, compared to the Roman period, the status of cats reached a higher level during the Byzantine period. It was found that alongside of being a pet, the Balatlar cat was a young healthy female individual that instinctively hunted rodents and birds, given that the remains of a rat and a sparrow were found in the region of the abdominal cavity, corresponding with the stomach location in the living animal. The grave presents the most significant direct archaeological evidence of a pet–human bond recorded at any Byzantine site so far.