Rescuing Dogs in Turkey: A Struggle for Survival in a System That’s Turning Its Back
In many countries, rescuing dogs is hard work—but in Turkey, it’s a fight for life, carried out against a backdrop of political pressure, violence, and silence. For those on the ground, it’s not just about finding homes or giving care—it’s about stopping mass suffering in a country where dogs are increasingly treated as a problem to be erased, not lives to be protected.
A Country in Crisis
Turkey is vast—stretching across two continents, with sweeping rural landscapes, booming cities, and everything in between. But alongside its beauty lies a growing emergency: millions of stray dogs are now targets in a state-led push to remove them from the streets.
This isn’t a few isolated cases. This is systemic. It's political. It’s a cull dressed up as public policy.
From Compassion to Crisis
For years, rescuers have done everything possible with very little. Feeding street dogs. Providing basic veterinary care. Neutering and returning to prevent further births. Advocating for better laws. Building shelters with whatever they could find.
But efforts are now being wiped away by a government that has declared war on street dogs.
Many private shelters have been shut down.
All stray dogs are being rounded up despite there not being the capacity to house them. Most areas do not have shelters.
Community dogs are being taken away from their carers
Violence to animal lovers is rising, people have been killed for being kind to stray dogs
Adoptions are restricted in municipal shelters & banned in private shelters
Feeding stray animals is banned
TNVR has ceased due to bans on returning the dogs to the streets. A fine of $2,000 per dog is imposed.
Violence is rising. Dogs poisoned. Shot. Beaten.
“Natural habitat” standards are very poor. These places consist of fencing on a piece of dirt land with not much else. These places have been seen as a solution to the problem of housing so many dogs.
And we are helpless to stop it all — but we are fighting hard!
The Scale Is Beyond Imagination
We are not trying to help hundreds of dogs. Or even thousands.
There are millions—four million in fact.
The law allows municipalities to euthanise dogs who they feel are aggressive (whether they are or not) & sick dogs. Recently healthy blind dogs were euthanised just because they couldn’t see.
Gone.
Just like that.
We’ve seen dogs taken from the streets and never returned. We’ve heard the stories. We’ve seen the bodies.
Political Pressure, Public Silence
This crisis is politically charged. The ruling party has framed dogs as a public threat—tools of fear, not companions of man. Animal advocates who speak out face harassment, legal threats, even arrest.
The public is confused. Divided. Afraid.
Some support the cull out of fear stoked by the media. Others remain silent, unsure of what they can do. And meanwhile, thousands of dogs are being rounded up, caged, and quietly removed from existence.
This isn’t just a policy failure.
This is a moral collapse.
Why Rescuing Dogs in Turkey Is So Different
In other countries, rescuers work within supportive systems. There are laws. Resources. Willing adopters.
In Turkey, we face:
A culture of fear, where loving a street dog can make you a target.
A system that gives municipalities the right to kill, without transparency or oversight. Each time dogs meet with a brutal end in a municipal shelter an apology is made, people are sacked & no more is said.
We fight every day not just to save dogs, but to survive the system that’s hunting them.
And Still, We Try
Every dog we save is a small miracle.
Every adoption abroad is a victory against hopelessness.
Every meal we feed on the street, every surgery we fund, every frightened dog we lift out of a trap—it all matters.
But it’s not enough.
We are outnumbered. Underfunded.
And we are exhausted.
The dogs need more than our effort.
They need your voice. Your outrage. Your action.
What You Can Do
Share the truth: The world must see what’s happening before it’s too late.
Call for humane policy change: Neuter-and-return works. Culling does not.
Speak up always.
This Is Not Just a Dog Issue
This is a justice issue.
A humanity issue.
And right now, it is slipping into darkness.
We are doing everything we can—but we are losing community dogs every single day.
Please don’t look away.
Please stand with us.
Because in Turkey right now, rescuing dogs is not just difficult—it is a desperate race against death. And we cannot do it alone.
Help us fight. Help us save them. Before silence becomes all that’s left.