Tonight, close to where I found the dog tag, were up to 15 stray cats feeding on food scraps provided by a local.

Feeding the stray cats is common in Mersin and is probably the main reason thousands of them survive each year. I’m not sure why locals feed the stray cats, but i suspect it is either:
a) as a form of rodent (rat and mouse) control; or
b) out of pity