Turkey's parliament approves "slaughter law" on stray dogs

In Turkey, stray dogs will have to be removed from the streets, with the possibility of resorting to euthanasia for sick or dangerous ones.

• Turkey's parliament has approved a law requiring stray dogs to be removed from the streets for safety reasons.
• They will have to be locked up in shelters, sterilized and given up for adoption.But for those who are sick or aggressive, euthanasia is foreseen.
• The decision sparked vibrant protests from animal rights organizations and citizens, who took to the streets in protest.

Animal rights activists and political opposition groups call it “massacre law”.They refer to the amendments to the Animal Protection Law that the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Turkey's unicameral parliament, approved on July 30.And which, potentially, risk paving the way formass killing of stray dogs.All that is needed for entry into force is the president's signature Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

How many stray dogs are there in Türkiye

According to statistics released by the government, in Türkiye there are about 4 million Of stray dogs.Many of them are harmless, like Boji, who became a social media star because he travels casually around Istanbul on public transport.

In some cases, however, they can represent a danger.The spokesperson of an association that lobbies specifically for road safety claims that, starting from 2022, at least 75 people (including 44 children) were killed due to dog attacks or road accidents caused by them.

Why animal rights activists talk about "massacre law"

Hence the text approved by the parliament of Türkiye which obliges municipal administrations to remove stray dogs from the streets and host them in shelters, where they can be vaccinated, neutered and sterilized and then made available for adoption.If the animals are aggressive or sick, there is the possibility of resorting toeuthanasia.And it is this amendment, in particular, that triggered the opposition of the thousands of people who took to the streets as a sign of protest.

To date, in fact, the capacity of kennels throughout the country is around 100 thousand animals;in some territories they are completely absent.For this reason, the law requires invest in the shelter network by 2028 and even provides for prison for non-compliant mayors.However, municipalities are often in financial difficulty and it is doubtful whether they will be able to equip themselves with adequate structures in such a short time.Many fear, therefore, that the dogs will end piled up in overcrowded and unhealthy facilities or who are killed by the thousands.