Activists fight to stop the ‘massacre’ of four million free-roaming dogs in Turkey
A controversial new bill wants to confine millions of the country’s free-roaming dogs, alarming activists who fear the move will result in the widespread killing of the animals.
Four million free-roaming dogs could be hunted down, confined, and killed in Turkey if a controversial, new bill is approved.
The legislation, submitted to parliament by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party on 12th July 2024, would require municipalities to round up free-roaming dogs and send them to shelters where they would be spayed and neutered. Dogs who are sick, show aggression, or are suspected of having rabies would be killed.
But critics of the bill say that the proposed plans will lead to dogs being confined to cramped shelters which animal rights activists have denounced as ‘death camps’, as well as the mass killing of many of the animals.
Multiple animal groups are demanding the withdrawal of the legislation.
“Animal rights advocates in Türkiye have been exposing evidence that these so-called shelters are in fact death camps and animals are tortured in unimaginable ways,” said Animal Save Movement, an international advocacy group that has launched a petition and open letter opposing the government’s plans. “If the law is passed, sick dogs, banned breeds and physiologically impaired dogs will be "euthanized", and even healthy, neutered/spayed, and non-aggressive dogs could be killed without justification, solely to reduce their population.”
The controversial proposal has attracted international media attention, with many arguing the reputation of Turkey will be damaged if the plans go ahead.
“Whatever this planned mass extermination hopes to accomplish, I assure you it will backfire and do the opposite,” said Jane Velez-Mitchell, TV journalist and the founder of the media platform, UnchainedTV. “Like millions of Americans, I’ve always wanted to visit Turkey and explore its historic sites. However, if this planned massacre occurs, I will never set foot in the nation and global campaigns will be launched urging tour companies to avoid Turkey at all costs.
“This is reputational suicide for Turkey and will cost the country many millions in revenue,” she added.
Erdogan’s ruling party, along with its nationalist and Islamist allies, holds a majority in parliament, making it likely that the bill will pass when it reaches the floor.
The current bill is a watered-down version of the original proposal, which reportedly called for free-roaming animals to be captured and held in shelters for 30 days. If not adopted within that period, the animals would be euthanized. This proposal, which was never submitted to parliament, prompted intense backlash, with thousands of protesters campaigning in Istanbul.
“This is not good for animals. It is a murder law,” one demonstrator, Sule Giritlioglu, a 27-year-old engineer, told AFP. “We think the cats will be next.”
The Turkish Veterinary Association also issued a statement, noting that "animal-borne rabies are actually decreasing" and that "mass dog culling should not be part of the rabies control strategy."
The association argues that the solution is to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the dog population to prevent the spread of rabies and declared that their members would not comply with the proposed law if it were passed.
Why is Turkey cracking down on the free-roaming dog population?
There are an estimated four million stray dogs in Turkey and the World Health Organisation classifies it as a “high-risk” country for rabies.
This bill was proposed following a report by the Safe Streets and Defence of the Right to Life Association, which advocates for the removal of all free-roaming dogs from the streets. The report claimed that 65 people have died in dog attacks since 2022.
Activists hold the authorities responsible for the surging dog population, citing a lack of enforcement of existing legislation that requires free-roaming dogs to be captured, neutered or spayed, and then returned to the location where they were found. They also argue that properly enforcing the current regulations would be enough to control the dog population.
Additionally, critics of the bill highlight that the new law fails to prohibit the production and trade of animals, which is one of the main contributors to population growth.
What’s the solution?
Despite having 1,403 municipalities, Turkey only has 298 dog shelters, according to Doctor Murat Arslan, president of the Turkish Veterinary Medical Association. This means that the weight of caring for the country’s population of free-roaming animals often falls on members of the public who cannot stand by and watch the suffering.
One such individual is Gokcen Yildiz, a secondary school physics teacher who cares for elderly and disabled dogs, and those with psychological or behavioral issues on her 15,000 sq m property.
“It is not my job, but I look after dogs in need,” she told BBC. “I always experience financial worry because the economy is getting harder. When the price of petrol increases, everything like pet food or the medicine I give, or the vet expenses - everything goes up.”
She said she feels anxious about finances, but her bigger concern is what will happen to the dogs if she doesn’t collect them.
Although she faces daily anxiety about her finances, her greatest worry is for the animals: “The dogs outside of here eat every two or three days, but they’re alive. They’re not about to die. That’s what really worries me.”
Doctor Arslan says to “manage the animal population, street dogs needed to be collected, sterilized, given some vaccinations, and then released back to the street,” but warns that not every area had shelters or facilities where these operations could be carried out”, particularly in small municipalities where there is a lack of shelters and veterinarians.
Animal advocacy organizations argue that if the 1,403 municipalities spayed and neutered just four animals per day, the problem would be resolved within one year.
Species Unite has signed the open letter opposing the plans and is urging our community to please sign and share this urgent petition organized by the Animal Save Movement in collaboration with activists in Turkey.
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