Turkish Parliament Proposes Draft Law To Eliminate Wild Dogs From The Streets

Istanbul, Turkey/ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - The ruling party in Turkey submitted a bill to parliament aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from the streets.

This plan worries animal lovers who say the mass sterilization campaign will be a better solution than confining dogs in shelters.

Under the draft law proposed by the AK Party, the city government will be charged with letting stray dogs out of the road and into shelters until they are adopted.

Aggressive dogs or dogs whose illnesses cannot be treated will be removed.

"The roads are not a place for dogs to live. But they have the right to live in more quality shelters," Abdullah Guler, chairman of the AK Party parliamentary group, told reporters.

The initial version of the bill, which leaked to Turkish media a few months ago, said all street dogs could be removed within one month, but the provisions were removed following public protests, including from opposition politicians.

The population of street dogs in Turkey is estimated at 4 million, and 2.5 million dogs have been castrated in the last 20 years by the city government, according to the bill.

Under current law, city governments must sterilize and vaccinate all street dogs and leave them where they were found after treatment.

There are currently 322 animal shelters with a total capacity of 105,000 dogs, according to the draft law.

The bill also requires all cities to spend at least 0.3 percent of their annual budget for animal rehabilitation services and building shelters.

The city government will be given until 2028 to build new shelters and repair existing shelters, the bill said.