Kumru – admitted to our spay and neuter clinic on 09 August 2024
Dear friends of Pro Animale,
You have probably been following the headlines in recent weeks about the highly problematic draft law of the ‘New Turkish Animal Protection Law 2024’, according to which there are to be no more street dogs and cats on the streets of Turkey in future. Despite massive protests from animal rights activists in Turkey and across Europe, the law was actually passed by the Turkish parliament on 1 August. It applies to both dogs and cats, but in reality will primarily be applied to dogs.
What is it all about?
The law obliges local authorities to catch stray dogs and place them in ‘animal shelters’. Here they are to be vaccinated, neutered, microchipped and then put up for adoption. According to the authorities, there are around 4 million stray dogs in Turkey. However, there is room for just 100,000 dogs in the few existing Turkish ‘animal shelters’ (or rather dog camps), which are already overcrowded, and the chances of dogs being adopted within Turkey are minimal. If the adoption does not take place within 30 days, the animals are to be euthanised.
There is no doubt that this law is a deadly sham, as no municipality will invest in neutering, chipping and vaccinating a dog that is already condemned to death!
Furthermore, the law states that sick dogs and dogs classified as dangerous should be euthanised immediately. 814 municipalities have no animal shelter at all.
By vehemently publicising incidents in the media in which people have been attacked by street dogs and, unfortunately, cases of rabies still occurring in Turkey, fear is deliberately stirred up among the population. People are triggered by the agitation against the supposedly vicious and dangerous street dogs. The new law de facto gives the municipalities sole responsibility for their street animals.
This interplay actually has the potential to trigger completely unleashed violence against the animals. The implementation of the new law will result in a frightening, horrific scenario for the animals.
Is there resistance?
A large part of the population, all Turkish animal rights activists and all parliamentary left-wing parties are against this law.
The leader of the opposition CHP party has issued a public proclamation stating that ALL municipalities governed by the CHP will oppose the new law and will not capture dogs, let alone euthanise dogs that are already in ‘animal shelters’.
A few days ago, a 180-page dossier, a countersuit by the Istanbul Bar Association and a lawsuit by the opposition party CHP were launched. These challenge the law’s violation of animal welfare and impracticability and point out serious legal errors. This is the prelude to a legal action to repeal the current new law, which in principle can still be withdrawn.
What can we do?
As you know, we are closely connected to the street animals of Turkey – we have been working intensively for them on the Turkish streets every day for 30 years.
Today, under the management of our incomparable Nilgün Varos, we run 3 animal shelters in Turkey, where we provide a home and a safe life for over 1000 animals rescued from the most extreme hardship. We also run a spay and neuter clinic for stray animals, open 365 days a year, where we will be operating from May 2008 to August 2024
32,146 neuterings of cats
7,376 neuterings of dogs
253 amputations
163 tumour operations
and
2,367 accident operations
in addition to an average of 120 therapeutic procedures every day.
Looking at these figures, it is easy to see HOW MUCH suffering has been prevented for unborn life as well as alleviated for the individually treated animal.
A sustainable and long-term solution to the problem of stray animals can only be achieved through large-scale, consistent and well-structured castration and care programmes for the existing animal populations in their traditional areas.
It is imperative that not only a neuter and release programme is practised, but also a subsequent, lifelong after-care programme (care and veterinary care) for the animals in their areas.
In the municipality of Altinoluk, our Nilgün Varos has been implementing just such a programme for many years and shows how positive, effective and peaceful the effects can be for animals and humans.
It is thanks to Nilgün’s efforts that our clinic has established itself as an animal welfare institution that is greatly appreciated by the community and its citizens.
Our Neuter-Release-and-After-Care programme for street dogs is so well accepted in the community that the dogs caught, neutered, vaccinated and ear-tagged by Nilgün and her team are released back to their original homes and can be looked after by us at a total of 18 feeding stations. We feed around 90 dogs and 400 cats there every day. These animals are therefore constantly monitored by Nilgun, they are also vaccinated annually – and what’s more: the citizens of Altinoluk are involved in caring for these dogs and cats living on the streets. They also feed them and inform Nilgun as soon as they notice that one of the animals is showing signs of illness.
Karma – admitted to our clinic on 19 August 2024
At this point, we would like to give our Nilgün the floor, as she has been with the animals on the Turkish streets DAILY for over 30 years:
‘The suffering that street dogs and cats in Turkey have endured for ages is almost unimaginable for many of you, it is horrific and cruel.
The average life expectancy of a street dog in Turkey is a maximum of 2 years and these are years marked by hunger and thirst, years of brutal destitution caused by parasitic diseases, infectious and viral diseases or sealed by death on the street.
Wherever dogs cannot live on the streets in the future, wherever they are, the only real help for street dogs is the establishment of sanctuaries – I imagine large, naturally structured, enclosed areas with trees, in the sense of reserves, where the neutered and vaccinated dogs can move freely, undisturbed by human hostility, but cared for by trained dog carers and live in peace.
You have to take responsibility – just as our Pro Animale friends and we, the protagonists of Pro Animale, have proven over decades, in this case responsibility for dogs for at least 17 years. This costs a lot of financial resources (fencing, carers, foster home, medical help) and not least a lot of stamina. But it is the only way to help the dogs individually and sustainably.’
The mayor of Edremit, who is responsible for Altinoluk, has promised us his absolute support and solidarity for the dogs. Day after day, we will continue to do everything we can to move forward with our charitable work and our sustainable, future-proof and peaceful solutions for the animals – our many years of experience, our 30 years of on-site work on the Turkish streets and the responsibility we have always borne for all the animals that have crossed our path during this time should guarantee this.
How can you help us with this?
- Please support our work in Turkey with your donation! EVERYTHING we achieve there depends on your donations!
- Raising awareness, educating people and using our voice for the animals is important. Please tell other people about our work in Turkey. Help us to publicise our work in Altinoluk as an example of an animal-friendly, peaceful and effective approach to the problem of suffering street animals! Tell other people about it, forward our newsletter, share our posts on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Donate now for the animals in Turkey with PayPal.
Our donation account:
Sparkasse Coburg Lichtenfels
IBAN: DE 33 7835 0000 0000 202010
BIC: BYLADEM 1 COB
Here you can see Nilgün’s encounter with Kerime – an old, emaciated dog who, once presumably ‘kept’ by humans as a guard dog, was finally abandoned to destitution on the street:
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Learn more
We would also like to recommend the following petition for the Turkish street animals, which we also support:
Click here to sign the petition.
