German Shepherd Dog Supports Turkey's Zero Waste Program, Able To Pick Up Plastic Waste

Ilustrasi black german shepherd. (Pixabay/YamaBSM)

JAKARTA - Controlling pollution is not only the responsibility of humans. Animals can also be invited to participate, at least, in reducing pollution in the world, as did the German Shepherd dog named Raven, who quickly learned to protect the environment.

Raven occasionally visits the park with her owner, Musab Subuh, in Istanbul and whenever she finds a used plastic bottle or other plastic material thrown away by humans, the dog picks it up and hands it over to her owner. Subuh, a Jordanian journalist, boasts that he trained Raven to develop this unusual habit, sadly rare among humans.

Two year old Raven started her training about a year ago. The first dawn began to teach him how to carry plastic waste into the trash at home. He took the water bottle first, because Raven "likes to drink water."

Rewarding the dog for every time he picks up a plastic bottle, Subuh finally manages to teach Raven how to find plastic bottles that need to be disposed of properly, from toys to slippers.

Then, Subuh took Raven out and tried it by throwing plastic bottles in public places. Over time, Raven succeeded. Now, whenever he sees a plastic bottle, the pet dog picks it up in his mouth and hands it over to Subuh.

Illustration of black german shepherd. (Pixabay/YamaBSM)

Fajar claims that German Shepherd dogs are relatively easy to train, especially to pick up objects, and the process is easy.

"Now, at my command, 'take', Raven brings the plastic bottle she finds. Sometimes, she instinctively grabs it and brings it to me," he quoted Daily Sabah from Anadolu Agency April 1 as saying.

He now plans to train Raven further, so the dog can throw plastic bottles and other objects into the trash bin himself, instead of handing them over to their owners, or at least leaving them next to the trash can.

Raven often goes to Maçka Park in Istanbul with her owner, who says the 'feedback' on her actions is 'good'.

"Some people even clapped when they saw them collecting the bottles. They gave us bags, so we could collect the trash and throw it away. I want to support the zero waste project in this way," he said, referring to an ambitious scheme to curb waste launched by Ms. Emine Erdoğan country in 2017.

Zero Waste encourages the separate collection of different wastes, with the ultimate goal of recycling everything that can be recycled, in an effort to reduce waste and contribute to the economy.

"I'm glad he managed to learn this habit," said Subuh.

He hopes that Raven can teach humans not to pollute the environment.

"I want to remind them, if dogs can do it, you can do it too and instead of throwing out plastic waste, you can put it in a trash can. Collecting plastic is important because it can be recycled and in this way, you won't be doing too much damage to the environment." .