The Massacre Law

Humankind killing their problems is not a solution. It's the road to hell

How did Turkey go from living in harmony with stray dogs to culling them?

On 21st August 2023 President Erdogan returned to Turkiye after a trip to Hungary. He spoke about “the stray dog problem” & said that it was time Turkiye adopted a European style stray dog model to remove stray dogs from the streets

"I am following this issue. We have done and will do whatever is necessary for safe cities and streets for our children and people”

Getting dogs off the streets is undoubtedly a commendable effort, as these animals endure lives filled with hardship and suffering. Street dogs face numerous challenges, including illness, injury, and human cruelty, which significantly shorten their lifespans. Tragically, many are found dead due to being shot, poisoned, or beaten. Puppies, left vulnerable when their mothers venture out in search of food and never return, often succumb to starvation or the cold.

In Turkey, however, the task of removing dogs from the streets and placing them in shelters is fraught with difficulties. The concept of shelters as we know them is non-existent, and only a small fraction of the population owns dogs, with a preference for purchasing purebred animals. This situation poses a significant challenge to improving the lives of street dogs, as the infrastructure and cultural attitudes required to support large-scale sheltering and adoption efforts are not yet in place. I have expressed my concerns about this issue in detail in another discussion which you can find here

The issue of stray dogs and their interactions with humans has become a prominent topic in certain areas. In 2022, an app called Havrita appeared in Turkey, which combined the words "bark" and "map" in Turkish. This app aimed to map locations where stray dogs resided, but it did not approach the situation with empathy or understanding towards the animals. Instead, it fuelled a wave of hostility on social media towards both the dogs and those who endeavoured to support them, with many, including us, facing harsh criticism.

The launch of the app was followed by a disturbing rise in incidents involving the abuse and deaths of stray dogs, prompting significant concerns. This led to the Criminal Court of Ankara taking action by blocking internet access to the app in 2022. According to Devrim Koçak, a spokesperson for Havrita, the map was intended to serve as a means to identify areas where people had encountered attacks by stray dogs, rather than to harm the animals. Koçak also added that there should be no dogs on the street, the state should find a solution to this urgently.

In March 2022 a nine year old girl was hit by a truck while being chased by stray dogs & passed from her injuries on March 28th. Her parents filed a complaint with Serik Municipality which was heard on Nov. 28. The complaint was that the municipality had not put measures in place to control the stray dogs & were therefore at fault. A judgement was made in their favour & the family were awarded four million Turkish lira in compensation.

Murat Pınar, father of the little girl, Mahra, set up an organisation called The Safe Streets Association & began campaigning for measures to prevent death & injury to the public from stray dogs. The grief stricken father wanted all strays removed from the streets to protect human life & pushed back at challenges from those seeking alternative solutions.

He said “The state must rule with its iron fist and take decisive action for public safety, without heeding to anyone else’s opinion”

By 2024 with public pressure mounting President Erdogan said that his government would release a new approach to stray dog management. It was felt by government that the existing legislation law 5199 which had a strong focus on controlling stray dog populations through sterilisation was not effective & therefore new measures were needed.

The president had previously shown interest in adopting a European stray dog management model & tasked government officials with drafting amendments to the current animal protection law 5199

Law 5199 afforded stray dogs with a good deal of protection. Under that legislation they were not allowed to be removed from the streets by municipalities. Sick dogs & dogs requiring sterilisation could be removed temporarily but had to be taken back to the streets where they were found. Municipalities were required to spay and neuter to control the stray population but experience working in the country we can say categorically they did not. Many have signs in their shelters which state that free spay & neuter is available to people but the signs are hidden from view & not carried out.

The most notable change to legislation concerns euthanasia.

Article 13 of Law No. 5199 allows stray dogs to be euthanised in municipal shelters if they are exhibiting aggressive behaviours which threaten human or animal life. Euthanasia is also allowed if stray dogs have zoonotic or incurable disease.

The nature of municipal shelters has changed under new legislation. Previously shelters as we know them did not exist. Turkish shelters were nursing homes where stray dogs would be taken for medical treatment & rehabilitation. Once treatment was complete the dogs were returned to the streets. Now dogs must be housed in shelters until they are adopted. TNVR is forbidden. The dogs will effectively be warehoused in shelters where they will remain for their entire lives.

The quality of life for these poor dogs is of great concern. We know from experience that dogs are not living in conditions that are suitable for their species. I have written about this in a previous sub which you can find here

Credit @aslialpar on X

The first version of the amended law 5199 stated that dogs taken to shelters would have a thirty day window to be adopted or face euthanasia. There was a considerable backlash to this clause which culminated in the clause being removed. However this does not improve the situation for the dogs.

Look at the above image. Does this look like a suitable environment for a dog. Small barren cages devoid of enrichment & starved of light it is very likely that the dog seen here will spend the whole of his life in this hellish situation. You can see efforts being made to keep the area clean & reduce the risk of infection & the outbreak of disease. The area has been hosed down, this happens with the dogs remaining in the cages, their living spaces are soaked taking considerable time to dry out, often they don’t before the next hosing down. It is utterly miserable & unconscionable that anyone could think this environment is acceptable.

Credit DokuzOlmaz on X

It is written that dogs in shelters should have a living space of 10m2 for large dogs & 8m2 for small dogs.

There are numerous examples of dogs crammed in to spaces much smaller than this allocation. Which isn’t surprising given the volumes of dogs that municipalities are under pressure to collect.

Credit DokuzOlmaz on X

The law states that municipalities with populations over 25,000 must build shelters or improve shelters already built by 2028.

Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks issued orders to begin collecting dogs right away. Perhaps there is some confusion in this. What if there is no capacity to house dogs, we know that many shelters constantly run at full capacity. And, what if the municipality has a population under 25,000, where do you put the dogs you are under constant pressure from the public to pick up?

We know that there has been a spike in dogs being moved from one area to another. This has always happened to a degree, but not in the volumes we are seeing right now.

Whistle-blowers have told us that when they say they do not have room at their shelters for more dogs they are being told to kill dogs already there to make room for the new arrivals.

This is not how it is supposed to go. Only dogs with untreatable diseases & zoonotic disease such as rabies & aggressive dogs who cannot be rehabilitated can be killed under the new law.

The amendments to Law 5199 were not supposed to create a cull culture, but that is what seems to be happening.

You can read our statement on culling here

There are only 273 shelters with a capacity of 89,000 out of more than 1000 municipalities. There are millions of stray dogs. Where are all these dogs going if they are being collected before new shelters are built?

Last week DKMP issued a directive banning the feeding of stray dogs.

I totally understand why a ban on feeding some foodstuffs in the streets would be a very wise move in order to protect public health, such as raw meat & offal. But why would anyone prevent the feeding of low health risk dry kibble to dogs who rely on the kindness of people to survive?

The dogs do not get fed every day & are so hungry I have never seen kibble uneaten. Granted some may be lost in weather such as rain or snow, but even then I can’t see this being a significant risk to public health.

And what of the dogs?

Without this essential support from people they will starve to death on the streets. But before they do they will wreak havoc as they scavenge whatever they can from humans. They will fight with each other for the smallest scraps, causing injury & even death to their competitor & I strongly suspect that there will be instances of increased aggression toward humans as the hunger bites hard.

And what of the people who feed them?

All of the community carers know their dogs well, some since the day they were born. Can you imagine the pain of a small puppy wagging its way toward you for a cuddle & a mouthful of food to fill it’s empty tummy & have to say no. Human to human violence will increase, there have already been several people killed for caring for dogs. Anything which creates further conflict should be avoided.

The harm to animal & human is off the scale.

We will have a call to action regarding this ban for you shortly & very much hope that you will be able to support us.

Thank you for reading this. I hope this goes a little way to helping you figure out some of the issues in Turkey at the moment. I will keep you updated as things change, as I hope they will. This beautiful country has a long history of tolerance & care for the stray dogs among it’s kind & deeply caring citizens. It depresses me to watch things going so very bad.

We are doing our very best to politely, legally & diplomatically reverse as much harm as we are able & to support the dogs & our friends during this challenging time.

Michelle