https://www.haytap.org/tr/stop-new-law-to-kill-stray-animals-of-turkey
Stop New Law to Kill Stray Animals of Turkey
Historically there have always been many stray dogs in Turkey. They are part of our culture and most of them are friendly and do not pose a threat to people. For centuries we have lived side by side and many people in Turkey respect our stray dogs. The problem is that their numbers have grown year after year, because our government has not implemented the Trap-Neuter-Release programmes in their areas. Or when they did, they would limit big sterilisation programmes to the cities, without sterilising the dogs in the surrounding villages. As a result, the impact of the sterilisation efforts were only of temporary nature. After a couple of years, dogs from the surrounding villages would come to the cities and the population would grow back to the same levels as before. Another problem is that there is a huge amount of uncontrolled dog breeding and trading in Turkey. People buy a dog and then don’t sterilise it or just dump it on the streets, which adds to the problem.
-Is the bill being discussed to apply to all of Turkey?
I am afraid yes
-How is the bill different than what is already in place? Why hasnt what is already in place worked?
The current law states that local governments have to capture, sterilise and release the dogs. As mentioned above, this will only work if also villages of the surrounding cities will be covered and if a ban on dog breeding and trading is imposed, which is not the case.
The first version of the newly proposed law stated that dogs would have to be captured, sterilised and euthanised if they would not be adopted withing 30 days. Hundreds of thousands of Turkish people went on the streets to protest against this proposed bill. Now the Government party of our president Erdogan has submitted a watered down version of this proposal whereby it states that still ALL stray dogs in Turkey will have to taken off the streets and put in shelters. Only the aggressive ones and dogs with rabies (a deadly disease also for humans) will be euthanised. Even though this new version of the proposed law seems more dog friendly, in practice it doesn’t change much. It doesn’t change anything because first of all, animal shelters in Turkey are not worthy of the word. They are not shelters, they are prisons, or dead stations, where enter and where they are starved to death or killed otherwise. If our president wants to put 4 million dogs in shelters, realistically 6,5 million squared meters of land would need to be built, which is the size of Istanbul. So, what this means, is that the dogs will simply be killed.
-Do you think the bill will work to reduce the number of stray dogs? Why/why not?
Millions of dogs will be sentenced to death and their only crime is that they were born. And the saddest part of this proposed Bill is that it will not work. It will not solve the problem of managing stray dogs in our country. First of all because this Bill fails to address the root causes of the problem, it just treats the symptoms. Secondly, the Turkish government has already tried this in this past, and failed. During the Ottoman empire, all dogs were removed from the streets of Istanbul (100.000 of them, at the time), and they were taken to an island where they dies, eating each other because there was no food for them. The streets were clear from dogs for a couple of years, but after 5 years the population has simply grown back to the same numbers.
Do you think this bill will HUMANELY reduce the number of stray dogs? Why, why not?
There is nothing humane about this bill, apart from sterilising them. Dogs and cats have the right to live and more than that, to live freely. It is our responsibility to minimise any form of harm against them. There is no humanity in imprisoning dogs and starving them to death or otherwise killing them.
-What will this bill mean for people who own shelters?
This bill only applies to state-owned shelters. Many of these ‘shelter’ managers already starve their animals to death, or kill them in different ways. But if the bill passes, they can and will abuse and kill as many dogs as they wish. And this will all be legal.
-Why do you think this is happening now?
Some stray dogs have attached to children and women and some of them seriously injured or dead. The families of these people inssitenly ask parliament to remove all those dogs from streets just like in modern western countries. On the other hand I also believe this is happening now, because of political reasons that have nothing to do with the animals. We believe it is a way to divide the population, as a way for our ruling party to stay in power.
-What do you fear will happen if it passes?
Millions of dogs will come to a brutal end, and there is nothing we can do to stop it, because they will all be captured and kept behind closed doors.
-Why is neutering/spaying not enough (have these programmes been overwhelmed?)?
See answer above:
- It needs to be done not just in cities but also outskirts of cities especially in remote village areas
- It will only work in combination with a ban on dog breeding and trading
-Can you tell me about the relationship you have with the dogs they look after and what they get out of it? Id love to hear how many you keep, where you keep them, etc. Just painting a picture of your personal love for dogs and their wellbeing.
I visit our shelters as often as I can, though I wish I had more time to spend with our animals. When I get to spend time with the animals, it is when I feel the happiest person in the world. We have saved thousands of animals, but to me they are not numbers. Each dog, cat, sheep, bird or donkey that we saved are individuals, and they all have their own story. Working to improve animal rights in a country like Turkey is complicated for many reasons. And at times, it can be very demotivating. But when I spend time with our animals I get new energy and I feel more determined than ever to keep fighting for them.
-What do you think is the solution to stray dogs, if not this bill?
See the proposed solution in our petition: https://animalheroes.eu/petitions-save-turkish-dogs-from.../
Please also see these links to help your questions :
https://www.haytap.tv/av-ahmet-kemal-senpolat-reported...
https://www.haytap.tv/stray-animals-of-turkey-and-the...
https://www.haytap.tv/80-thousand-dogs-exiled-story-to-a...
https://www.haytap.tv/strays-in-turkey_7e59d7304.html
https://www.haytap.org/.../chris-green-summary-of-turkish...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdjp_nadcds
https://www.haytap.org/tr/what-is-haytap
https://www.haytap.org/.../haytapfighting-for-long-term...
Yours sincerly
Ahmet Kemal Şenpolat
Attorney at Law
President of Haytap – Animal Rights Federation in Turkey
ahmetsenpolat@haytap.orgHistorically there have always been many stray dogs in Turkey. They are part of our culture and most of them are friendly and do not pose a threat to people. For centuries we have lived side by side and many people in Turkey respect our stray dogs. The problem is that their numbers have grown year after year, because our government has not implemented the Trap-Neuter-Release programmes in their areas. Or when they did, they would limit big sterilisation programmes to the cities, without sterilising the dogs in the surrounding villages. As a result, the impact of the sterilisation efforts were only of temporary nature. After a couple of years, dogs from the surrounding villages would come to the cities and the population would grow back to the same levels as before. Another problem is that there is a huge amount of uncontrolled dog breeding and trading in Turkey. People buy a dog and then don’t sterilise it or just dump it on the streets, which adds to the problem.
-Is the bill being discussed to apply to all of Turkey?
I am afraid yes
-How is the bill different than what is already in place? Why hasnt what is already in place worked?
The current law states that local governments have to capture, sterilise and release the dogs. As mentioned above, this will only work if also villages of the surrounding cities will be covered and if a ban on dog breeding and trading is imposed, which is not the case.
The first version of the newly proposed law stated that dogs would have to be captured, sterilised and euthanised if they would not be adopted withing 30 days. Hundreds of thousands of Turkish people went on the streets to protest against this proposed bill. Now the Government party of our president Erdogan has submitted a watered down version of this proposal whereby it states that still ALL stray dogs in Turkey will have to taken off the streets and put in shelters. Only the aggressive ones and dogs with rabies (a deadly disease also for humans) will be euthanised. Even though this new version of the proposed law seems more dog friendly, in practice it doesn’t change much. It doesn’t change anything because first of all, animal shelters in Turkey are not worthy of the word. They are not shelters, they are prisons, or dead stations, where enter and where they are starved to death or killed otherwise. If our president wants to put 4 million dogs in shelters, realistically 6,5 million squared meters of land would need to be built, which is the size of Istanbul. So, what this means, is that the dogs will simply be killed.
-Do you think the bill will work to reduce the number of stray dogs? Why/why not?
Millions of dogs will be sentenced to death and their only crime is that they were born. And the saddest part of this proposed Bill is that it will not work. It will not solve the problem of managing stray dogs in our country. First of all because this Bill fails to address the root causes of the problem, it just treats the symptoms. Secondly, the Turkish government has already tried this in this past, and failed. During the Ottoman empire, all dogs were removed from the streets of Istanbul (100.000 of them, at the time), and they were taken to an island where they dies, eating each other because there was no food for them. The streets were clear from dogs for a couple of years, but after 5 years the population has simply grown back to the same numbers.
Do you think this bill will HUMANELY reduce the number of stray dogs? Why, why not?
There is nothing humane about this bill, apart from sterilising them. Dogs and cats have the right to live and more than that, to live freely. It is our responsibility to minimise any form of harm against them. There is no humanity in imprisoning dogs and starving them to death or otherwise killing them.
-What will this bill mean for people who own shelters?
This bill only applies to state-owned shelters. Many of these ‘shelter’ managers already starve their animals to death, or kill them in different ways. But if the bill passes, they can and will abuse and kill as many dogs as they wish. And this will all be legal.
-Why do you think this is happening now?
Some stray dogs have attached to children and women and some of them seriously injured or dead. The families of these people inssitenly ask parliament to remove all those dogs from streets just like in modern western countries. On the other hand I also believe this is happening now, because of political reasons that have nothing to do with the animals. We believe it is a way to divide the population, as a way for our ruling party to stay in power.
-What do you fear will happen if it passes?
Millions of dogs will come to a brutal end, and there is nothing we can do to stop it, because they will all be captured and kept behind closed doors.
-Why is neutering/spaying not enough (have these programmes been overwhelmed?)?
See answer above:
- It needs to be done not just in cities but also outskirts of cities especially in remote village areas
- It will only work in combination with a ban on dog breeding and trading
-Can you tell me about the relationship you have with the dogs they look after and what they get out of it? Id love to hear how many you keep, where you keep them, etc. Just painting a picture of your personal love for dogs and their wellbeing.
I visit our shelters as often as I can, though I wish I had more time to spend with our animals. When I get to spend time with the animals, it is when I feel the happiest person in the world. We have saved thousands of animals, but to me they are not numbers. Each dog, cat, sheep, bird or donkey that we saved are individuals, and they all have their own story. Working to improve animal rights in a country like Turkey is complicated for many reasons. And at times, it can be very demotivating. But when I spend time with our animals I get new energy and I feel more determined than ever to keep fighting for them.
-What do you think is the solution to stray dogs, if not this bill?
See the proposed solution in our petition: https://animalheroes.eu/petitions-save-turkish-dogs-from.../
Please also see these links to help your questions :
https://www.haytap.tv/av-ahmet-kemal-senpolat-reported...
https://www.haytap.tv/stray-animals-of-turkey-and-the...
https://www.haytap.tv/80-thousand-dogs-exiled-story-to-a...
https://www.haytap.tv/strays-in-turkey_7e59d7304.html
https://www.haytap.org/.../chris-green-summary-of-turkish...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdjp_nadcds
https://www.haytap.org/tr/what-is-haytap
https://www.haytap.org/.../haytapfighting-for-long-term...
Yours sincerly
Ahmet Kemal Şenpolat
Attorney at Law
President of Haytap – Animal Rights Federation in Turkey
ahmetsenpolat@haytap.org
