The 17-article "Law Proposal on Amendments to the Law No. 160 on the Protection of Animals", which was passed by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and became law, was published in the Official Gazette on July 30. Thus, the law took effect as of August 2. According to the government, Türkiye has 4 million stray dogs, but the total capacity of its 322 shelters is 105.000. This, right off, makes the rhetoric that this law would protect animals in a way that would not kill them highly doubtful.
It has been more than 2 months since the entrance of the law into force, and according to animal rights activists and legal experts, it reinforced violence against animals and normalized it among people. The law has created a perception of protection for the criminals killing and harming animals. Since August 2, there has been an increase in violence against animals in Türkiye. In fact, there were more than 60 animals that have been killed in the past 2 months.
Countless news of animal slaughter have been all over social media in Türkiye. Recently in Manisa, a guy named Muzaffer Şen killed 3 kittens with a broom handle in a brutal way. A few days before this, buried dead dogs were found in Ankara and Niğde. Lawyers from Ankara Bar Association Animal Rights Center filed criminal complaints about the allegations both in Niğde and Ankara. After the Street Animals Law came into force, people like the ones in these cases started killing animals, using the law as an excuse.
CHP Chairman Özgür Özel reacted to the law, underlining that municipalities will be authorized to use euthanasia by an amendment to the same law: "This law postpones the obligation to build shelters until 2028. That means: 'There is no money. You have the responsibility. You have the authority. Animals are on the street. Slaughter them.' Of course, CHP municipalities will not do this. But there will be many mayors who will."
For the last 2 months, people of Türkiye have been insisting on protesting the law. And the responses of the politicians have not been satisfactory: AKP Group Deputy Chairman Bahadır Nahit Yenişehirlioğlu was one of the speakers on the first day of Kocaeli Book Fair. Demonstrators of animal rights protested his speech in Kocaeli Congress Center. Animal defenders targeted Yenişehirlioğlu, who prepared the draft "Law on the Amendment of the Law on the Protection of Animals", which was named by animal defenders as a "massacre law" . They chanted slogans like "Don't shut up, shout out, no to slaughter".
Since 2004, the "Catch, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return", or CNVR program, has been established by Türkiye. This approach, since its introduction, enjoyed a reputation as a humane and effective solution as it confirmed to international best practices that it would ensure that the root causes of overpopulation are dealt with by decreasing uncontrolled breeding of stray animals on the streets in a sustainable manner. This model involves catching stray dogs and cats, neutering them, vaccinating them, and putting them back in their original territories, where they will spend the rest of their life with no contribution to population increase.
The same CNVR methodology has proved successful in many other countries, giving rise to significant reductions of stray animal numbers, rabies outbreaks, and dog bites. If effectively implemented, such programs can develop a stable, manageable stray population that stops posing any danger to the safety and health of the people.
The adoption of a "Catch, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return" model for stray animals was underlined in a joint statement by animal rights activists. "It is so easy to label an animal 'aggressive' or 'dangerous for public safety' just because it barks, or to slaughter it by saying it has an 'infectious disease' when it can be treated with a single dose of vaccine,” the statement said.
This framework of CNVR has not been applied consistently and has many logistic problems in Türkiye. It is not the framework that is problematic on its own, but its patchy implementation and lack of proper oversight. Although legally binding, it has not been uniformly enacted by every region. Sometimes, because of limited resources, municipalities are allowed to skip steps or cut corners. Consequently, the core parts in the principle -neutering, vaccinations, proper shelter care- have gotten ignored or underfinanced on many occasions, leading to the gradual increase of stray animal populations.
This failure in implementation has translated into inept, usually understaffed and overcrowded shelters that cannot provide adequate medical treatments, thus contributing to the transmission of diseases among stray animals. The sad consequence of such a situation is an increasing stray population and a rise in conditions like rabies and parasitic infections - a vicious cycle that the original CNVR program was designed to prevent.
This breakdown in the framework has left the animals vulnerable and frustrated the public. Rather than witnessing any kind of improvement, the citizens have witnessed more stray animals on the streets, more incidents of animal-human conflict, and the suffering of the animals themselves. The debate rages on: true commitment versus quick fixes by Türkiye when it comes to its stray animals. It is at this point important to note that, when funding, training, and strict application of humane practices are instigated, the benefits of CNVR will be restore
