Egypt's stray dogs loved, hated and feared


Ahmed Fouad February 11, 2020




India’s leader Mahatma Gandhi famously said that the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated — a statement that could make Egypt very difficult to judge, with dueling campaigns on whether to help or kill stray dogs.

On Jan. 15, Iman Hassan, an animal rights activist who advocates for stray dogs, posted on her Facebook account the story of a man in Heliopolis who had built a wooden shelter to protect stray dogs from the cold.

The man’s name was not revealed in the post, but Hassan explained in detail how this compassionate young man had bought the wooden dog house from an elderly man living in the same street and then put it in a safe place away from pedestrians and cars. Other young people living in the area help by providing food and water for the animals in this makeshift shelter. Then, one of the stray dogs gave birth to seven puppies.

Hassan said that the wooden shelter had gradually become a full neighborhood initiative, with some youths cleaning the dog house daily and others providing food. Even residents who don't particularly love dogs respect the initiative and are kind to the dogs who stay there. She has urged this citizen initiative to spread to other parts of the country.

But not everyone has been happy with the initiative. A resident who lives close to the dog house told Al-Monitor that the area attracts more stray dogs because of the food available there.

He called on the Ministry of Agriculture to intervene against this initiative in order to protect the residents from the increasing number of stray dogs.

An informed source at the Ministry of Agriculture told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that there have been no official complaints regarding the shelter. “The ministry will not take action unless someone makes an official complaint,” he said.

He added that some of the animal-friendly measures taken by locals may unwittingly lead to negative consequences, such as an increase in the number of stray dogs in a particular location. “If there are too many stray animals in a single area and the residents feel threatened, the ministry has to act. In some cases it becomes impossible to reduce their numbers except by using poison or guns to kill them,” he said.

In October 2018, the Slaughterhouse and Public Health Department of the ministry's Veterinary Services Authority launched a nationwide plan to get rid of stray dogs by poisoning them.

The authority estimates the number of stray dogs in Egypt to be close to 15 million, and that number is on the rise. It is impossible to sterilize and vaccinate this huge number of stray dogs because of the cost involved, which the authority said would be 500 Egyptian pounds ($32) per dog.

Shortly after the plan was announced, Egyptian parliamentarian Margaret Azer suggested exporting dog meat to East Asia. She said, “This is a more humane way of dealing with the overpopulation of dogs [than the current solutions that include mass shootings and castration]." She added that the benefits of this plan would be two-fold: reducing the likelihood of stray dogs attacking people on the street and providing an additional source of revenue to the Egyptian economy.

“We could take the stray dogs to a farm where they would be given a balanced diet and then slaughtered and exported,” Azer was quoted by the local press as saying. “After being properly fed, a dog could be exported for 5 pounds [$0.32] each.” Her proposal caused a reaction from public figures, including from Egyptian soccer star Mohamed Salah. It was eventually shelved.

Hassan al-Jaweeni, director of the Slaughterhouse and Public Health Department, told Al-Monitor that Law No. 53 of 1966 regarding the competences of the Ministry of Agriculture specified cases of removing stray dogs — and domestic dogs that do not have leashes — from the streets and other public spaces if there is a risk to the public.

Jaweeni said that both the officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and the public agree that stray dogs pose a threat on the streets. He said that more than 1.7 million dog attack complaints had been registered in 2014-18, with 278 incidents ending in death.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Agriculture obtained from the Egyptian House of Fatwas an official fatwa in November 2007 authorizing the killing of stray dogs if they have harmed people, “including scaring or barking at them.” The fatwa stipulated that killing the dog or dogs — as opposed to taking them to a shelter — had to be the only available option.

Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee has adopted a softer tone with stray dogs compared to the House of Fatwas. The committee issued a fatwa on Sept. 20, 2019, stating that the basic principle is "charity for animals," and the priority in dealing with stray dogs should be to collect them and send them to dog shelters. But it added that if a dog had become a threat to humans and killing it was the only option to stop it, this was allowed.

Dog lovers complain that the fatwas itself — particularly those that say dogs are unclean and not welcome in a Muslim home — have a negative impact on the way Egyptians treat dogs. Conservative people’s attitude to dogs was tested when Sufi singer Mahmoud al-Tohamy, chairman of the board of directors of the Religious Chanters’ Syndicate and a graduate of Al-Azhar University, posted on Facebook a photo of himself while caressing his son's dog.

The Dec. 19 post simply said, “Whoever tells you the dog is impure, tell him that God never created impure creatures.”

The photo immediately caused anger with the public, who considered that he was going against Sharia (Islamic law); several fatwas of Al-Azhar and the House of Fatwas over the years had said that dogs are impure.

Tohamy responded by saying that various scholars had challenged the idea of the impurity of dogs, including Imam Malik Ibn Anas, a prominent Islamic scholar (711-795).

Muslim doctrines are divided on whether dogs are clean or not. The Maliki sect considers the dogs clean, whereas the Shafi'i and Hanbali sects believe that dogs are unclean and have no place in a home where there are daily prayers. According to Al-Azhar — which follows the Hanafi school of thought — the dog is also impure and forbidden in the homes of Muslims except for an important reason such as guarding.

Abdel-Rahman Youssef, director of the Cairo Animal Rescue Team, blamed such fatwas for people’s attitudes toward dogs.

"The fatwas of religious institutions that the dog is impure provide a basis for many citizens who think they are entitled to attack dogs on the streets,” he told Al-Monitor. “Dogs normally do not snap or growl and threaten people unless they are threatened themselves, and only a small percentage of dogs on the streets have rabies or other diseases,”

Youssef said a cultural change is necessary — both in the religious interpretation of the "purity” of dogs and in the role they play in urban life. “The killing of stray dogs since 2018 has led to the emergence of various dangerous animals in the outskirts of some of the cities near the deserts,” he said.

In April 2019, media outlets and social media activists shared photos of hyenas near a tourist resort in Taba in the south Sinai Peninsula.

Many activists attributed the hyenas’ emergence to the expansion of campaigns to get rid of stray dogs in the cities of Taba, Dahab and Nuweiba, as these dogs play a prominent role in scaring away the hyenas.

Found in:ANIMALS AND ANIMAL RIGHTS

Ahmed Fouad is an Egyptian journalist working as newsroom assistant manager for Al-Shorouk. He specializes in coverage of Islamists and analysis of the political situation in Egypt, especially since the mass protests of June 30, 2013, the one-year anniversary of Mohammed Morsi's presidential inauguration.



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Turkey: Dog abuse video sparks debate over what to do with millions of stray dogs

Animal rights advocates are concerned that shelters are exacerbating the suffering of strays, while others warn against 'mass killings'

This file photo shows a worker of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality feeding stray dogs on 30 January 2019 at Sariyer, northern Istanbul (AFP)

By Yusuf Selman Inanc in  Istanbul
Published date: 4 December 2022 

Online footage of two men abusing a dog at a shelter in Turkey last week has sparked widespread anger and reignited the debate about the government's approach toward animal shelters and the millions of stray dogs in the country.

The horrific clip, access to which is now banned by a court order, showed one employee at the facility in the central province of Konya hitting a dog with a shovel while another was strangling it in attempt to kill the animal. The two employees have since been arrested and are facing charges punishable by up to three years in jail.

The incident last Friday has polarised the country as many see the rising number of stray dogs as a menace while others criticised what they considered as insufficient government efforts to find a sustainable solution to the problem.

The country has also witnessed a reported surge in deaths caused by stray dogs. Since the beginning of 2022, stray dogs have killed an estimated 27 people and wounded 535.

Stray dogs lie on the grass in front of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, on 23 August 2022 (AFP)

Last month, the death of a 10-year-old child in Bitlis in Turkey’s southeast after being bitten by a rabid dog also caused uproar across the country.

A two-year-old toddler succumbed to severe injuries in July after a dog attack in Kars, a city in the country’s east, and his sister was severely injured.

In May last year, six-year-old Ruken Yildiz was attacked by 20 stray dogs in Van, in eastern Turkey, and died immediately.

'We are against the idea of shelter. A dog can’t live in a two square metre cage. Instead, they should be in open space'

- Murat Pinar, Safe Streets Association

In an indirect death, 10-year-old Mahra Melin Pinar was hit by a truck and died in Antalya in March as a stray dog was chasing her.

Her father, Murat Pinar, is currently the head of Safe Streets Association, an NGO that aims to raise awareness about the threats posed by stray dogs, especially to children and disabled people.

According to Pinar, the only applicable solution would be round up stray dogs and provide them with an appropriate living space, rather than shelters.

"The state has huge vacant lands in Anatolia. The dogs should be put there," he told Middle East Eye. "But we are against the idea of shelters. A dog can’t live in a two-square metre cage. Instead, they should be in open space."

Regarding the concerns of animal rights defenders, Pinar said these living spaces should be monitored by animal rights associations in order to prevent incidents like the one in Konya.

"There are still at least seven dogs in the street where my daughter died," he said, accusing the municipalities of failing to meet their obligations.

Fears of mass killings of dogs

Many public figures have spoken out against the shelter incident, including Turkey’s First Lady Emine Erdogan and pop singer Tarkan, calling for harsh punishments for the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, in response to popular outrage, the government said it would launch an investigation to see whether further violations of animal rights exist in Konya and other animal shelters across the country.

Turkish man shot dead by his dog during hunting trip

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said relevant authorities would take necessary measures to find a solution, without providing further details.

“We have taken necessary measures not to see similar incidents again,” he said on Saturday, referring to Konya.

While some people, including politicians and influential figures, call for collecting dogs and sending them to shelters, animal rights defenders are concerned this would lead to mass killings, an argument consolidated by the incident in Konya and the extermination policy advocated by a number of opponents of stray dogs.

For example, a widely-followed Twitter account campaigning for an end to the stray dogs phenomenon calls for either placing all stray dogs in temporary shelters or "putting the dogs to sleep painlessly."

But animal rights defenders refer to previous experiences when dogs were subjected to mass killing.

The most infamous campaign happened in 1910 when approximately 80,000 dogs were rounded up in Istanbul and left on Sivri Island, a small, deserted island in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul. Later, this island became known as "Hayirsiz" or "Wicked" island.

The dogs died of hunger and thirst, even attacking and dismembering each other. At that time, the groans of dogs were heard in Istanbul, triggering popular calls on the government to bring them back.
Is castration a solution?

According to official figures, it is estimated that the number of street animals is around 10 million in Turkey. However, the real number of dogs and cats is unknown.

A female dog usually gives birth to five puppets every six months. Ozlem Zengin, a member of parliament for the ruling Justice and Development Party claimed last year that "unless a mass castration is applied, the number of stray dogs will reach as many as 60 million in 10 years".

Turkey applies the policy of "capture, vaccinate and release," and local municipalities are required to castrate all captured stray dogs.

However, due to the failure in the implementation of this policy, the number of stray dogs continues to increase.

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So are rabies cases: 87,508 people received treatment for suspected rabies infection in 2000 while this number increased to 283,185 in 2018, although the number of patients with confirmed rabies remained under five during this interval. The health ministry recently announced that 1.5 million doses of rabies vaccination would be procured.

The chairman of the Chamber of Veterinarians in Istanbul, Murat Arslan, believes stray dogs pose a threat to public health by spreading diseases. "Although local municipalities are authorised to castrate and vaccinate stray dogs, there is not sufficient budget to cope with the growing population," he said in an interview this month.

Animal rights activist Ahmet Kemal Senpolat argues that a mass castration campaign must be organised to decrease the number of stray dogs in the coming years. "The dogs must be collected, castrated, vaccinated and put in the street again," he said.

However, he believes there is no consistency among local municipalities in applying such policy. "While a municipality meticulously castrates dogs, its neighbouring municipality takes no step. As a result, we can’t see the decrease in the population.”

Yet, there are serious doubts about castration capacity. Turkey is home to 255 shelters only, which can look after less than 100,000 dogs. Moreover, castration of millions of dogs is believed to constitute a huge financial burden to the country.

Members of the Association of Protecting Animal Life (Haykader) also believe that the sale of dogs online and in pet shops must be prevented, while well-equipped shelters must be built where castration, vaccination and rehabilitation can be applied thoroughly.

Senpolat also says that the adoption culture is not common in Turkey as people seek to buy breed dogs.

Although law No 5199 bans the sale of dogs and cats in pet shops, a quick Google search shows hundreds of web pages that sell dogs.

STRAY

Turkish police scuffle with protesters rallying against bill targeting stray dogs
Reuters
Fri, July 26, 2024 


Turkish police scuffle with protesters rallying against bill targeting stray dogs
Animal rights activists take part in a rally in Istanbul

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police scuffled with protesters in the capital Ankara on Friday during a demonstration against plans to round up millions of stray dogs.

The plan, presented to parliament by President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party earlier this month, has alarmed animal lovers who say a mass neutering campaign would be a better solution than locking dogs up in shelters.

Police pushed back the protesters as they tried to gather in the city centre, leading to scuffles.

The demonstrators held banners reading, "You cannot round them up, you cannot jail them, you cannot kill them" and "Take back the law".

"People here are those taking care of many animals. What is this grudge? Do you want the dogs and cats on the street to be killed?" one protester said through a megaphone.

Under the draft law, municipalities would be charged with moving strays off the streets and into shelters until they are adopted. Aggressive dogs or any with untreatable diseases would be put down.

The population of street dogs in Turkey is estimated to be 4 million, and 2.5 million dogs have been neutered in the past 20 years by municipalities, according to the draft bill.

There are currently 322 animal shelters with a capacity to host a total of 105,000 dogs, the bill says.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Gareth Jones)


Thousands protest in Istanbul against bill they fear will lead to mass cull of stray dogs

Euronews
Sat, July 27, 2024 

Thousands protest in Istanbul against bill they fear will lead to mass cull of stray dogs

Thousands of people have gathered in Istanbul to protest against proposed legislation that critics fear will lead to the mass killing of stray dogs across Türkiye.

The draft bill aims to regulate the country's millions of stray dogs and make streets safer but animal rights advocates are concerned many animals would be put down or end up in neglected, overcrowded shelters.

Demonstrations against the bill, which was proposed in mid-July, have been an almost-daily occurrence for the past several weeks as the proposed legislation makes its way through the judicial system.

A parliamentary committee approved the draft earlier this week, and the full assembly is scheduled to have a final vote in the coming days with deliberations starting on Sunday.

The government estimates that around four million stray dogs roam Türkiye's streets and rural areas.

Although many are harmless, numerous people, including children, have been attacked in Istanbul and elsewhere.

Protest in Istanbul against bill critics say could lead to mass culling of stray dogs, July 27, 2024 - Screenshot from AP video 4508835

The proposed legislation mandates that municipalities collect stray dogs and house them in shelters where they would be neutered and spayed.

Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill, pose a health risk to humans or are aggressive would be put down.

Municipalities would be required to build dog shelters or improve conditions in existing ones by 2028.

The legislation is a watered-down version of an initial proposal, which reportedly called for the strays to be rounded up, housed in shelters and euthanised if they are not adopted within 30 days. That proposal, which was not submitted to parliament, sparked a public uproar, with animal rights activists arguing it would result in the mass extermination of unadopted dogs.

But animal rights activists worry that some municipalities might kill dogs on the pretext that they are ill, rather than allocate resources to shelter them.

The government denies the bill would lead to a widespread culling and the country's justice minister said anyone killing strays "for no reason" would be punished.
Why does Türkiye need to control its stray dog population?

A report released by the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association, an organisation campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022.

The government promised to tackle the issue earlier this year after a child was severely injured after being attacked by dogs in the capital Ankara.

A woman feeds a stray dog in the Kadikoy neighbourhood in Istanbul, July 6, 2024 - Francisco Seco/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved

Despite existing legislation that requires stray dogs be caught, neutered and spayed, and returned to the spot where they were found, a failure to implement those regulations over the past years has caused the feral dog population to explode, animal rights groups say.

They argue that proper implementation of these regulations would be sufficient to control the population.

Britain has recently issued a stray dog warning for travellers to Türkiye, stating that they often form packs and can be aggressive. It has advised visitors to be cautious and avoid approaching them.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STRAYS 

‘Bark Map’ social media app causes outcry in Turkey after spike in number of poisoned street dogs

Activists in Turkey say dogs are being hunted with the Havita app. 

Pictured is Kusadasi on Turkey's Aegean coast. / Zeynel Cebeci, cc-by-sa 4.0.

By bne IntelIiNews

 August 24, 2022

Havrita (“Bark Map”), a Turkish social media app that targets stray dogs by providing users with a mapping/location service, has come under fire after a spike in the number of poisoned street dogs.

Launched in May 2022, Havrita allows the app user to share a picture of a dog and its location across all 81 provinces of Turkey. This appears to have led to the surge in the number of cases of poisoned dogs. Head of the Animal Rights Commission of the Istanbul Bar Association, Gulsaniye Ekmekci, told Gazete Duvar how in the southern Antalya province, around eight to 10 dogs were found dead around the same locations indicated on Havrita.

Amid a growing outcry, social media users in Turkey have started a hashtag (#HavritaKapatilsin (“Shut down Havrita”)) to call for the shutting down of Havrita. Protesters have taken aim at the platform's spokesperson, lawyer Devrim Kocak. However, in a tweet, Kocak suggested those wanting the platform taken offline were misguided.

According to the pro-government Sabah newspaper, “the platform is the work of a group of activists who founded it after a high school student was killed after he was mauled by 25 stray dogs in the central province of Kayseri in 2019.”

In another tweet, Kocak described the app as a “user-friendly social media application” that should be protected under Article 56 of the Constitution. The article protects people's right to live in a healthy and stable environment.

GlobalVoices noted that the Havrita website is full of photographs of stray dogs with locations. Havrita's founders, the media outlet reported, claimed it was not for targeting but for identifying locations, while adding that Havrita bears no responsibility for what happens to the dogs once their location is pinned on the map.

Guliz Gunduz, who works to help stray animals, raised concern about Havrita's past in an interview with online news platform Bianet. Havrita’s founders, he said, were involved in a public campaign several years ago that targeted street cats. The campaign went by the name of Anadolu Kedisi (“Anatolian Cat”).

“Then they went after dogs, and we, animal rights defenders and organisations, responded seriously. They stopped for a while, until approximately a year ago, the same people founded a website called Basibos Kopek Sorunu [‘The problem of the stray dog’]” said Gunduz was quoted as saying in the interview. In response, he added, people started feeling uneasy when passing stray dogs. “Even though, street animals are afraid [of] us anyway. They face violence and abuse anyway. Instead of punishing the culprits, we are now seeing that the stray dogs are held accountable,” he said.

On August 22, after orders from the Ankara Criminal Judgeship of Peace no. 1, access to the Havrita app and website were blocked. On the same day, Kocak said the application would be paused due to the public backlash.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously described shelters available for stray dogs as clean and safe environments. But critics claim there are very few shelters in Turkey that provide adequate services to stray dogs.

In an interview with The Independent, Mine Vural, an animal rights activist and veterinary technician in Istanbul, said: “in general in Turkey, shelters are trauma and death camps for animals.”

STRAY DOGS ARE ALLOWED TO ROAM FREE IN TURKEY AND HAVE CREATED THEIR OWN DOG CULTURE ON THE STREETS AS THIS DOCUMENTARY SHOWS

 

 

 

Turkey's stray dogs at risk in government roundup. Director of the film "Stray," Elizabeth Lo on CNN

Feb 15, 2022

Stray dogs are a common site in Turkish cities with more than 100,000 of them roaming the streets in Istanbul alone. For many, the canines are beloved four-legged members of the community that had been protected under the country's no kill, no capture mandate. But late last year, the Turkish president asked city leaders to round up strays... after a child was bitten in one incident. It's not clear whether that dog attack actually involved strays. But since then, some places have begun capturing and removing them. The biting incident set off a culture war, with many dogs being captured, terrorized, left to die... even killed. Filmmaker Elizabeth Lo documented some of Turkey's stray dogs surviving, if not thriving, on the streets of Istanbul in her movie, "Stray," released in 2020. Since the government crackdown, Lo returned to Istanbul to find and rescue one of the stars of her film, this charming pup, Zeytin. Elizabeth Lo joined CNN's Rosemary Church on February 15, 2022, to bring awareness to the plight of Turkey's dogs.

Turkish ministry orders for collection of stray dogs classified as 'dangerous'

Turkey's Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry has sent a circular to local authorities asking them to capture street dogs classified as “dangerous” and take them to shelters.

Monday December 27 2021 0

Duvar English

Turkey's Environment, Urbanization Ministry and Climate Change Ministry has sent a circular to the 81 provinces' governorates and municipalities, asking them to round up certain types of stray dogs that are considered as “dangerous” as per the Animal Law.

According to the Law No. 7332 on the Amending the Animal Protection Law and the Turkish Penal Code, dogs breeds of American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, American Pitbull Terrier, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and Japanese Tosa breeds are classified as “dangerous.”

The circular asked the authorities to conduct regular inspections to determine these dogs on the streets, to round up the unattended ones and take them to the shelters.

Once in the shelters, the circular called for the “rehabilitation” of these animals, such as “parasite treatment, inoculation, sterilization and entry of their data in the digital platform.” It is only once municipalities employ these “rehabilitation” methods that they can place the animals back on the streets, the circular said.

The circular was issued after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stirred controversy on Dec. 25, by calling on what he said “White Turks” to look after their dogs. Erdoğan ordered authorities to capture “dangerous” dogs and place them in shelters.

The president's remarks came after two pitbulls attacked a 4-year-old child in the southeastern province of Antep last week. The child, Asiye Ateş, was heavily injured and is currently receiving treatment at a hospital. 

Erdoğan however used the incident to call for the streets to be free of animals. Since his order, authorities all around the county have been busy capturing dogs illegally and taking them to shelters.

The issue became a trending topic on Twitter and thousands of people slammed Erdoğan's remarks. While many pointed to the fact that pitbulls are not intrinsically violent and that their owners raise these animals to be such, others asked why the incident became a tool to target stray animals. 

Animal rights defenders fear for dogs' lives after Erdoğan targets stray dogs

Animal rights defenders have started to fear for stray dogs' safety after President Erdoğan targeted the animals. Erdoğan on Dec. 25 ordered municipalities to remove stray dogs from the streets and place them in shelters, which effectively means death for the animals.

Sunday December 26 2021 09:17 am

Duvar English 

Animal rights defenders in Turkey are concerned for the lives of stray dogs after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan targeted the animals following an incident involving a pitbull. 

Erdoğan on Dec. 25 ordered municipalities to remove stray dogs from the streets and place them in shelters, which effectively means death for the animals since shelters are in horrendous conditions in Turkey. 

The president's remarks came after two pitbulls attacked a 4-year-old child in the southeastern province of Antep this week. The child, Asiye Ateş, was heavily injured and is currently receiving treatment at a hospital. 

In a speech on Dec. 25, Erdoğan also stirred controversy by calling on "White Turks" to look after their dogs, saying that breeds such as pitbulls are owned by wealthy people.

Despite the pitbulls not being stray, Erdoğan used the incident to call for the streets to be free of animals. Later in the day, he said that it would be a significant service to remove stray dogs from the streets and place them in "clean and safe environments." He also called on municipalities to act on the issue urgently.

Although Erdoğan deemed shelters "clean and safe environments," this is almost never the case. Pictures and videos frequently shared by animal rights activists reveal the abhorrent conditions animals are forced to live in. In many cases, animals die of hunger and diseases in tiny and filthy cages, while at other times municipality employees kill them as soon as they collect them from the streets.

The issue became a trending topic on Twitter and thousands of people slammed Erdoğan's remarks. While many pointed to the fact that pitbulls are not intrinsically violent and that their owners raise these animals to be such, others asked why the incident became a tool to target stray animals. 

Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP) chair Ahmet Kemal Şenpolat said that abandoning animals to die in shelters is not a solution when there is no spaying and neutering. 

"This should be done by municipalities. Locking them up is not a solution," Şenpolat told the daily BirGün on Dec. 26.

According to the law, municipalities are obliged to bring the animals back to where they took them after giving them necessary treatment or spaying and neutering them. Stray animals can only be held in shelters temporarily, the law says. 

Lawyer Hacer Gizem Karataş from the Animal Rights Watch Committee (HAKİM) said that Erdoğan's order on municipalities effectively means an order of slaughter. She also said that the committee will do whatever is necessary in the face of such unlawfulness. 

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Turkish municipality buries stray dogs alive after sedating themEnvironment

Turkey to ban four dog breeds as part of animal rights lawDomestic

 

Thousands protest controversial law to remove millions of dogs from Turkey’s streets

The government estimates that around four million stray dogs roam Turkey’s streets

Ap Correspondent

12 hours ago

A woman wears a mask during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Huge demonstrations were held across Istanbul on Sunday, protesting recent legislation that critics say is leading to the killing of stray dogs across Turkey.

Last month, legislators approved the new law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from Turkish streets citing safety concerns. Animal-lovers fear it will lead to widespread culling or dogs ending up in disease-ridden and overcrowded shelters.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the law was necessary to deal with the country’s “stray dog problem.”

Sunday’s protesters called for the law to be repealed, brandishing posters reading ‘shelters are death camps’ and ‘withdraw the bloody law.’

“We want this law to be withdrawn immediately,” protester Hasan Kizilyatak, 64, told The Associated Press. “They (stray dogs) are living beings, just like us. We are here because we are against them being annihilated.”

Ayten Arslan, 55, who said she supports Erdogan, also showed up to protest.

“Just like we stood beside our president on July 15 (2016) when there was a coup attempt, we are here for the stray animals,” she told the AP. “I say as an AK Party supporter, this law, is a bloody law.”

The main opposition Republican People’s Party moved to repeal the law in the Constitutional Court less than two weeks after it passed.

The government estimates that around 4 million stray dogs roam Turkey’s streets and rural areas. Although most are harmless, several people, including children, have been attacked.

People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

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 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022.

The new legislation requires municipalities to collect stray dogs and house them in shelters to be vaccinated, neutered and spayed before making them available for adoption. Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill or pose a health risk to humans will be euthanized. The initial draft bill included cats, but that article was changed after a public outcry.

However, many question where cash-strapped municipalities would find the money to build the necessary extra shelters required.Animal rights activists worry that some municipalities might kill dogs on the pretext that they are ill rather than allocate resources to shelter them.

Videos showing dead cats and dogs buried in ditches have been circulating on social media recently. Animal rights activists say the animals were indiscriminately killed after the passage of the law.

Yorkshire couple help street dogs in Bulgaria

Oli Constable
BBC News

Street Hearts BG
Emma and Anthony Smith moved from Yorkshire to Bulgaria in 2013


A North Yorkshire couple who moved to Bulgaria and set up a charity to help street dogs say they have rehomed more than 1,500 animals.

Former police officer Emma and commercial diver Anthony Smith left Skipton in 2013 and lived in the Dryanovo region, which was overrun with animals in need.

They set up the charity to help neuter the dogs and rehome as many as they could, with their story now being told in a new book.

Animal lover Emma said she was "a bit of a 'you either put up or shut up' kind of person" and took the plunge to become a full-time dog rescuer.

"I could see that there was a huge dog problem," Mrs Smith told the BBC, after they moved to Bulgaria.

Street Hearts BG
Roshy was one of the dogs rescued by the couple



"There was a hospital just up the road and there were 26 [dogs] constantly mating, fighting, [they were] starving, sick dogs."

"My husband and I are animal lovers, and we wanted to give something back to the country we'd gone to live in."

Along with Mr Smith, they set up Street Hearts BG, which had the aim of preventing unwanted puppies and reducing dog abandonment.

The non-profit venture is documented in a new book called Street Hearts.

The idea for the charity came about after Mrs Smith saw a larger dog trying to mate with a much smaller dog, leaving the animal in "fear".

They planned to "at least castrate some dogs so that there's not more misery on the street", but it soon developed into a full-time job.

The charity was difficult to set up as a foreigner, Mr Smith said.

Nicki Irvine
Anthony Smith, pictured with Branston and Renee


"The local mayor provided us with some authority to collect street dogs and neuter them on behalf of the municipality, but it soon became apparent that that was not enough."

After seeking help from the Bulgarian government, it took 18 months to become a fully-fledged non-profit, but the couple say the wait was worth it.

"To date, we've sterilised over 4,000 dogs and rehomed 1,500 dogs, and continuing a free service for neutering for all dogs in our municipality," Mrs Smith said.

Since they started their work, the street dog population in the Dryanovo region had drastically shrunk, she added.

STRAYS

Turkey proposes bill aimed at managing large stray dog population. Critics say it’s inhumane


A stray dogs rests at Kadikoy sea promenade in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, July 4, 2024. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party on Friday July 12, 2024, submitted to parliament a controversial bill aimed at managing the country’s large stray dog population. Critics are concerned that the proposed legislation will result in dogs being confined to cramped shelters and potentially lead to the killing of many of the animals. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)


Pro animal rights activists shout slogans during a protest in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 24, 2024. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party on Friday July 12, 2024, submitted to parliament a controversial bill aimed at managing the country’s large stray dog population. Critics are concerned that the proposed legislation will result in dogs being confined to cramped shelters and potentially lead to the killing of many of the animals. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Updated 10:25 AM MDT, July 12, 2024

Updated , July 12, 2024

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party submitted to parliament Friday a controversial bill aimed at managing the country’s large stray dog population. Critics are concerned that the proposed legislation will results in dogs being confined to cramped shelters and potentially lead to the killing of many of the animals.

The bill is pitting animal rights activists against those calling for measures to make the streets safe from the feral dogs.

Erdogan has said that an estimated four million strays are roaming Turkey’s streets and countryside.

The legislation is a watered-down version of an initial proposal, which reportedly called for the strays to be rounded up, housed in shelters and euthanized if they are not adopted within 30 days. That proposal, which was not submitted to parliament, had ignited a public uproar, with animal rights activists arguing it would result in the mass extermination of unadopted dogs.

Abdullah Guler, a senior legislator from the ruling party, told reporters that under the revised proposal, stray dogs would be removed from the streets and placed into shelters where they would be neutered and spayed.

The dogs that are at risk of rabies, exhibit aggressive behavior and have no possibility of being rehabilitated would be euthanized, Guler said.

Municipalities would be required to enhance and improve conditions in existing shelters while people would be encouraged to adopt the dogs, the legislator added.

Erdogan’s ruling party and its nationalist and Islamist allies hold a majority in parliament and the bill is likely to pass when it reaches the floor. No date has been set.

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 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022.

The government promised to tackle the issue earlier this year after a child was severely injured after being attacked by dogs in the capital Ankara.

Despite existing legislation that requires stray dogs to be caught, neutered and spayed, and returned to the spot where they were found, a failure to implement those regulations over the past years has caused the feral dog population to explode, animal rights groups say.

They argue that proper implementation of these regulations would be sufficient to control the population.

Britain has recently issued a stray dog warning for travelers to Turkey, stating that they often form packs and can be aggressive. It has advised visitors to be cautious and avoid approaching them.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STRAYS 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STRAY 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for DOGS 

 ON THE OBSERVERS

Tunisian activists say authorities’ campaign to kill stray dogs ‘barbaric’

Issued on: 10/12/2020 - 18:35Modified: 14/12/2020 - 16:34

It’s still a common practice to kill stray dogs in some cities in Tunisia. © France 24 screengrab

Text by:Fatma Ben Hamad

Graphic photos and videos showing dogs shot and killed by city workers in Tunisia have been circulating online since late November. Animal rights activists as well as people living in neighbourhoods where killings are taking place have taken to social media to protest against what they say is a “barbaric” campaign. Our Observers say that both the government and citizens share the blame for this massacre.

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WARNING: Some readers may find images in this article shocking

Several cities across Tunisia announced on November 27 that they would be carrying out a two-week campaign to kill stray dogs, stating that their aim was to reduce the number of stray animals in urban spaces and prevent the spread of rabies. Since the start of this brutal campaign, social media has been flooded with videos and images taken by horrified locals showing city workers in Tunis shooting and killing animals. 

 

Une militante pour les droits des animaux lance l'alerte sur Facebook. Capture d'écran. © F24

This Facebook post by Yasmine Azaiez Animal Rescue reads: “15 days of killing stray dogs in greater Tunis. Please keep your dogs inside and any others you can save. Thank you.”

City officials in Tunisia frequently carry out this kind of killing campaign, despite vehement protests from animal rights organisations. In 2107, the city of Tunis set up sterilisation centres for stray dogs. After being sterilised, the dogs were released back into the city with ear tags. However, during this most recent campaign, eyewitnesses have reported that city workers have been killing tagged dogs along with the others. 

An animal rights activist sounds the alarm on Facebook. © France 24 screengrab

Horrified by the graphic images of dogs being slaughtered, concerned citizens launched an online campaign calling for animal cruelty to be criminalised. They said the killing campaigns were “barbaric”. 

This social media user heard shots being fired the night of November 24. He found a dog who had been shot and tried to save it by bringing it to a veterinarian in Sousse, but it later died from a haemorrhage. 

 

Faced with the wave of anger online, the mayor of Tunis announced that he was “hostile to this barbarous act” and that the city government wouldn’t take part in the national campaign to exterminate stray dogs. However, city residents proved through the images they captured that this announcement was not being respected on the ground. 

Une internaute dénonce l'opération dans une banlieue de la capitale. © F24

This post by Christiane Schmelzer reads: “Last night at 11pm, in the Nour Jafaar housing projects, Raoued, all of our dogs were murdered. The mayor promised us that they were going to stop killing dogs. RIP.”

 

“The bodies are sometimes just left there; it’s a horrible sight”

Amal Hattab is a veterinarian who works at a shelter in Tunis called “Protection for stray animals”. 

There are lots of veterinarians who work on a volunteer basis to sterilise the dogs in our shelter. Currently, we are making the rounds in Tunis neighbourhoods to pick up dogs who have been shot to bring them back to our centre to be treated. Most of these dogs aren’t aggressive at all. They actually need help. We work with trainers who take care of the dogs who are the most fragile and afraid. 

 

 

City officials in Sousse banned the killing of any dogs who had been tagged. But numerous witnesses took photos and videos showing that city workers were still carrying out their deadly campaign late at night. In Tunis, no concrete measures to stop the killing were taken, despite numerous pleas made to the mayor. 

 

En Tunisie, les municipalités abattent les chiens errants avec de la chevrotine

En Tunisie, l'abattage des chiens errants est toujours couramment pratiqué © Les Observateys

This video, filmed in Sousse, was live-streamed the night of November 27. The man filming, who is horrified, says: “City workers just killed it … look, they used buckshot. The poor thing, they riddled it [with bullets]; they chased it down and killed it.” 

 

“Je ne sais pas quoi faire. Il a été blessé par balle”, commente cette internaute de Kasserine (ouest). © F24

“I don’t know what to do. He was shot,” says this social media user in Kasserine.  © France 24 screengrab

 

“We urgently need to create more shelters in Tunis”

City workers are focusing their campaign on residential neighbourhoods. Lots of people complain that these stray dogs make too much noise and contact the city to ask that they be killed. Sometimes stray dogs can be dangerous, especially if they have rabies, but that is all the more reason to place them immediately in a shelter, far from humans and other dogs. 

There are also a lot of dogs who don’t die immediately from their wounds and suffer greatly, without access to food or water. 

Sometimes the bodies are just left in the street and they start to rot. It is a horrific and shocking sight for everyone. 

 

The person who filmed this video on December 5 in Bou Salem says: “In a quarter of an hour, the students at Hédi Nouira Middle School will start their day with a distressing sight […] this dog was shot during the night.”

 

 

The shelters and centres need financial support from the city to pay for medicine and care. We have been focusing on spaying female dogs because we don’t have the means to sterilise all of them. The number of injured dogs that we are caring for is rising. Currently, there are about 100 dogs in the shelter. We urgently need to create more animal shelters in Tunis because the veterinarians can’t keep the animals long term. 

In Tunis, veterinarians and activists have worked together to set up shelters and parks. 

 

 

“This is a reflection of the general perception of animals in Tunis; people don’t respect animal life”

Amal Ben Mohamed, 46, is currently caring for about 50 animals in her home in the working class neighbourhood of Kabaria, where a large number of stray dogs have been slaughtered.

 

City workers aren’t supposed to be acting alone. They are supposed to work in tandem with a veterinarian and a representative from the Regional Commission for Agricultural Development, who can identify if the animal has rabies and, thus, if it is necessary to kill it. 

 

 

“Look at the buckshot the city used here in Jendouba. [The dog] was carrying eight puppies.”

 

 

For me, this is a reflection of the general perception of animals in Tunis; people don’t respect animal life. If that weren’t the case, the government wouldn’t dare to slaughter animals in this way. There is no law to protect stray dogs. [Editor’s note: According to article 317 of the Tunisian penal code, a person can be sentenced to 15 days in prison and fined 4.80 dinars (equivalent to €1.46) for abusing a domestic animal, either their own or one belonging to someone else, but this doesn’t apply to stray animals.]

A lot of us have reached out to the city because we want to help them care for these dogs. We’ve made numerous calls for donations. Over the past few months, we’ve spent all our time caring for these animals. We want to create a service for caring for stray animals within city government to manage this issue in a more efficient and humane way. 

The government needs to work to progressively change this mentality, starting with campaigns to raise awareness for young people so they get used to animals in public spaces and no longer fear them.

The city of Tunis reported that 145 dogs were spayed or neutered and vaccinated against rabies in 2020. They claimed that they kill dogs only in the most extreme cases. The France 24 Observers team contacted them but didn’t receive a response; we will publish it if they send it

https://observers.france24.com/en/africa/20201214-tunisian-authorities-launch-barbaric-campaign-to-kill-stray-dogs