The Constitutional Court, the ultimate legal authority, rejected an appeal for annulment of amendments to the Animal Protection Law that Parliament passed last year.
A group of animal rights activists convened outside the court in the capital, Ankara, on Wednesday as the court deliberated the appeal filed by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). The reason for the rejection will later be made public, as usual in such cases.
As the amendments were adopted last August, the CHP took them to the high court, calling for the annulment of 16 amendments out of 17, claiming they ran against animal rights, public good and right to life. Some bar associations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) joined the CHP in their quest to annul the amendments.
The amendments mandate that municipalities should collect stray dogs and place them in animal shelters for adoption or other measures, including culling. The amendment allows dogs classified by veterinarians as sick or aggressive or that pose a “danger to the health of humans and animals” to be put to sleep. Veterinarians should decide on this.
Municipalities are now obliged to catch street dogs and place them in animal shelters. They should be rehomed with owners, if possible.
Activists have claimed that it would lead to the mass killing of animals due to what they called an inadequate number of animal shelters. The government, however, argued that the measures are necessary due to the rising number of attacks by stray dogs that have led to the deaths of children and adults alike in the past few years.
There are an estimated 4 million street dogs in Türkiye, where stray cats and dogs freely roam and are often well-fed.
Some 2.5 million dogs have been neutered in the past 20 years. Under the previous legislation, municipalities had 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 105,000 dogs.
Municipalities are given until 2028 to build new shelters and improve current shelters.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) defends the necessity of the bill amid a growing number of incidents involving stray dogs. Party lawmakers carried the photos of victims of feral dog attacks in the first session of the debate at the parliamentary subcommittee to pass the law last year. A report released by the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association, an organization campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that at least 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022. The government promised to tackle the issue in 2024 when a child was severely injured after being attacked by dogs in the capital, Ankara. Britain has recently issued a stray dog warning for travelers to Türkiye, stating that they often form packs and can be aggressive. It has advised visitors to be cautious and avoid approaching them.