- Turkish Parliament passes law against street dogs
Despite heavy protests, the Turkish parliament has passed a legislative amendment that allows the killing of stray dogs in certain cases. The majority of lawmakers in the capital, Ankara, voted in favor of the amendment to the animal protection law, as reported by the state news agency Anadolu.
Under the new rules, municipalities are required to capture stray dogs and place them in animal shelters. Whenever possible, they should be adopted by owners. Dogs deemed sick, aggressive, or a "threat to human and animal health" can be euthanized. Veterinarians will make this decision.
Animal welfare activists fear a mass killing of animals due to the inadequate infrastructure of animal shelters in Turkey and the often catastrophic conditions in these facilities. Activists had protested the plan for weeks.
Animal welfare activists fear the killing of healthy animals as well. According to government estimates, there are approximately four million stray dogs in Turkey, but only around 100,000 shelter places. By the end of 2028, municipalities are to ensure sufficient accommodation; failure to do so may result in imprisonment of up to two years.
Senem Demirel Acar, deputy chair of the animal protection organization Haytap, fears the law will lead to chaos. With four years allocated to create enough shelters, but dogs to be collected immediately, she expects even healthy dogs to be killed immediately.
The Islamist-conservative government justifies the measure by citing frequent attacks on people by stray dogs. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated it was about the "security of the people". Previously, killing stray animals was prohibited, and reducing their population through neutering, vaccination, and release back into their original habitat was planned. The largest opposition party, CHP, intended to stick to this regulation and enforce it consistently.
Opposition leader Özgür Özel announced he would take the case to the Constitutional Court and stated that municipalities led by his party would not implement the law. The CHP won the majority of mayoral posts in the country in the March municipal elections.
Critics see the debate over stray dogs as having political undertones and an attempt by Erdogan to further polarize the country and make life difficult for opposition-led municipalities.
This legislative amendment, allowing the euthanization of aggressive or threatening dogs, has raised concerns among animal welfare activists about potential mass murder of stray dogs due to the inadequate shelter infrastructure in Turkey. Despite the government's justification of improving public safety, opposition leader Özel intends to challenge the law in the Constitutional Court, fearing it could lead to unnecessary killing of healthy animals.
