Turkey's ruling party presented a bill to parliament on Friday that aims to round up millions of stray dogs, a plan that has alarmed animal lovers who say a mass neutering campaign would be a better solution than locking dogs up in shelters.
Stray dogs look out from behind bars as they are under treatment at Istanbul municipality's animal rehabilitation centre in Istanbul, Turkey, May 27, 2024. Reuters/Umit Bektas
Turkey's ruling party presented a bill to parliament on Friday that aims to round up millions of stray dogs, a plan that has alarmed animal lovers who say a mass neutering campaign would be a better solution than locking dogs up in shelters.
Under the draft law proposed by the AK party, municipalities would be charged with getting strays off the street and into shelters until they are adopted. Aggressive dogs or any with untreatable diseases would be put down.
"Streets are not a space for dogs to live. But they have the right to live in more qualified shelters," Abdullah Guler, chair of the AK party's parliamentary group, told reporters.
An earlier version of the bill, which was leaked to Turkish media months ago, said all street dogs could be put down within a month but the provision was removed after public outcry, including from opposition politicians.
The population of street dogs in Turkey is estimated to be 4 million, and 2.5 million dogs have been neutered in the past 20 years by municipalities, according to the draft bill.
Under current legislation, municipalities have to neuter and vaccinate all street dogs and leave them where they were found following treatment.
There are currently 322 animal shelters with a capacity to host a total of 105,000 dogs, according to the bill.
The draft bill also requires all municipalities to spend at least 0.3% of their annual budget on animal rehabilitation services and building shelters.
Municipalities will be given time until 2028 to build new shelters and improve current shelters, the bill says.
Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever
The Israeli military published for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect.
The fragile calm that briefly lifted over the Middle East has shattered. Iran has reimposed strict control over the Strait of Hormuz, reversing its decision to reopen the critical waterway just 24 hours earlier, and sending shockwaves through global energy markets ahead of Monday's open.
Iran and the United States have taken tentative steps toward a deal, but a final agreement remains far out of reach, according to one of Tehran's most powerful political figures.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.