HAYTAP

https://www.haytap.org/tr/stray-dog-population-control

Stray Dog Population Control

This new law ( 2024 August )  is madness, totally impractical and useless. It will simply result in municipal dog catchers picking up friendly, approachable dogs and then later starving or killing them. It obviously will do nothing to solve the surplus dog problem, in fact it will make it worse, because by removing neutered, vaccinated dogs with ear clips from the streets, they will create carrying capacity for fertile dogs to breed on and on.

Turkey introduced Neuter & Return in about 2005 and it has definitely helped. Everywhere you see neutered dogs with ear clips. But the big mistake Erdogan made was to entrust implementation to municipalities, rather than involving NGOs. Municipal workers do not have the motivation or the education to do door-to-door canvassing to collect and neuter female dogs with keepers/feeders/owners. Dogs with feeders are the most reproductively successful dogs, so are the source of the problem. Feral dogs are not the main source of the problem.

 some Turkish municipal vets who understand N&R and are good surgeons, but if the dog catchers ignore dogs with keepers/feeders (factory, petrol station, car park etc dogs) and then dump some of the dogs they have neutered in forests instead of back in their territory, they doom any N&R project to failure, or let’s say limited success.

That is what has happened in Turkey.

We are not sure how one persuades governments to engage NGOs in integrated N&R projects. Politicians are obsessed by power and control. NGOs are independent mavericks to them. One can understand Erdogan thinking: “we are paying all these municipal vets and workers, let them do the job ! Why should we finance private NGOs to do it ?”

The only solution is a public-private partnership.

The role of government should be limited to finance, supervision, public relations, sponsorship and where available (as in Turkey) municipal veterinary facilities and personnel.

The handling of the dogs, collection, catching, returning, school education, open shelters as pressure release valves, must be the preserve of NGOs.


 

How can you solve the problems of stray animals ?  Please read the below article for solution