"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
-- The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)
Current situation
What can you do ?
Free-ranging outdoor dogs
Human-dog conflicts ?
Solutions
You may know about the dogs and the cats who live outdoors in Turkey; whether you are in the city or in a rural area, you can encounter free-ranging outdoor dogs and cats who have co-existed with people for hundreds of years. These animals have been protected by animal rights laws since 2004, and are part of what makes Turkey unique in the eyes of many locals and tourists.
Most of these animals are not feral because they live together with people. They are also not strays because the locals take care of them; the local people have already formed strong bonds with these dogs, and feed them daily and care about their well-being and safety.
Turkey's unique position towards free-ranging outdoor dogs have been explored in the documentary Stray by Elizabeth Lo, accompanied by two insightful essays by Professor Marc Bekoff on Turkey's free-ranging dogs and why they have become international icons.
Here is what is currently happening in Turkey:
Despite years of co-existence, there is currently a heightened state of opposition towards dogs. In May 2024, the president proposed a new law that allows capturing all the dogs and putting them into shelters, and killing those who are not adopted.
There are not enough shelters to house all the outdoor dogs in Turkey. The existing shelters are in really bad condition where most animals die due to inadequate care and space. Furthermore, most of us fear that the dogs will either be immediately killed after they are captured, or released in uninhabited areas without any food, water, or protection.
!!! PLEASE READ, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: Regardless of what your views are about pets living outdoors, please understand that this law WILL lead to killing of thousands, if not millions, of dogs. The purported goal of this law is to protect people from dogs and to reduce human-dog conflicts. However, the reality is that it is the dogs who need to be protected from people. Through the years, there have been countless reports of dogs being physically abused, tortured, injured, raped, and killed. This happened even when animals were protected by the 2004 animal rights law. This new law removes legal protection for animals.
UPDATE July 23: After three days of meetings (July 17, 22, and 23), the Turkish Parliament's Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Affairs Commission has accepted the proposal that will allow capturing and killing outdoor dogs.
UPDATE July 29, 9:00pm EST: The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) met on July 28 and July 29, and accepted the proposal at 3:55am (!) Turkish time on July 30, 2024 (12:55am UTC). 275 yes votes, 224 no votes, and 1 abstaining. It will become the law after a few formalities. How even more shameful that July 30 is the International Friendship Day as declared by the United Nations.
UPDATE August 2: The accepted proposal has now officially become the law, after it was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Türkiye and signed by the president.
UPDATE August 8: There is now video and photo evidence of mass killings in multiple cities across the country. Thousands of animal lovers are going through an intensely difficult period. The mass killings in Turkey are in the news all over the world.
UPDATE August 16: The leading opposition party Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) filed a lawsuit on August 15 to the Constitutional Court of Turkey (Anayasa Mahkemesi; AYM) demanding them to rekove this new law.
UPDATE September 1: In one of the largest meetings in Turkey's recent history, animal lovers and defenders came together in Istanbul (Yenikapi) to oppose the new law. There was a concurrent protest in London in front of the Turkish Embassy. According to a report compiled by Komşunum Nöbetteyim, there have been at least 44 instances of animal abuse and murder in August after the law was accepted. Unfortunately there may have been many more we simply do not know about.
UPDATE October 4: Today is World Animal Day. It is a day to remember that all animal lives matter. To acknowledge that animals are not a piece of property but rather conscious beings. To realize that our planet would be very boring and lonely without animals. Instead of being able to celebrate these wonderful creatures with whom we share our planet, Turkey is remembering and grieving all the animals who have been harmed or killed during the ongoing massacre.
Given that dogs are being killed every day, the most important actions we have to take now are:
1) prevent dogs from being captured and killed,
2) support all activities that will lead to this law being withdrawn,
3) join all our efforts together instead of trying to work individually,
4) place as many dogs as possible in safe locations where they can be protected from those who want to harm or kill them.
Here are some additional actions:
1. The leading opposition party, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP), filed a lawsuit on August 15 to the Constitutional Court of Turkey (Anayasa Mahkemesi; AYM) demanding them to rekove this new law. You can sign a petition and send an email to AYM in support of this lawsuit.
2. Visit the Animal Save Movement website, and sign their petition.
3. Support the ongoing animal protection movement with #SokaktayımYanındayım, #KomşunumNöbetteyim, #KatliamıDurdurAYM, #ToplamaYerindeYaşat, #YasaDeğilCinayet, #SokakHayvanlarıSahipsizDeğil, #KatliamYasasınıTanımıyoruz, #YasayıGeriÇek, #WithdrawTheLawTurkiye, #TurkiyedeKatliamVar.
4. You can join the protests that are happening in Turkey. The location and the time of protests are announced by Yaşam İçin Yasa.
UPDATE July 25: There are now multiple protests across the world, including in Romania, Austria, UK, Ireland, and USA.
5. If you are in Turkey, participate in Komşunum, Nöbetteyim!, which is similar to neighbor-watch and allows local communities to work together to report instances of animals being captured or abused.
6. Sign additional petitions and letters by OIPA, Care2, change.org:
Animal Save Movement, International Organization for Animal Protection (OIPA), Care2, Change.org (EU; English), Change.org (Barinaklar; Turkish), Change.org (Turkish)
If there is anything you'd like to learn more about, feel free to get in touch with me. Huge thank you to Marc Bekoff, All-Creatures.org, Animal Save Movement, New York Times, Lady Freethinker, Humane Society International, Dominic Dyer, Chris Packham, and Melda Kelemcisoy for helping increase international attention to this situation! THANK YOU to every single one of you who cares about animals enough to take action and to speak up for them!
As a wildlife biologist and a naturalist who has worked with multiple species of insects, birds, and mammals, I know there are concerns that outdoor dogs and cats can harm wildlife. This topic is complex but I strongly think that speciesism makes everything more complicated than it needs to be, and every individual animal has a right to live their life regardless of what species they are.
Mass killing is never the solution!
I want to emphasize the urgency of this situation. Millions of animal lives are at stake. This really is not the right time to debate whether dogs should be allowed to live outdoors due to potential harm to wildlife. The first and foremost priority is to protect their lives, before we can think of long-term solutions.
In an ideal world, every single dog would live in a place where they are loved and cared for by their human friends, and where they are completely safe and able to fully enjoy their life. Unfortunately, this is not the case anywhere in the world. Many dogs are either living in shelters or rescues without any guarantee that they will not be killed due to lack of space or resources, or as outdoor animals without any guarantee that they will be able to find food, water, shelter, or protection from humans.
Until a long-term solution is in operation to maximize the safety and the well-being of dogs in Turkey, it is absolutely essential to protect them from laws that focus on killing them instead of giving them an opportunity to live.
One of the major causes of human-dog conflicts in Turkey:
As a scientist who specializes in animal behavior, and as a Turkish citizen who has interacted with hundreds of free-ranging outdoor dogs throughout my life, here is my take on human-dog conflicts in Turkey.
From what I have seen over the years in the media, and from my personal experiences with Turkish people who report challenges with outdoor dogs, it is clear that the majority of human-dog conflicts (with a few exceptions) are due to the dog being either intentionally or unintentionally provoked. Most of the exceptions seem to be related to dogs who have been abused in the past, or to intact male dogs forming large groups or becoming terriorial to protect their area or the female dogs in their area, all of which can be prevented by sufficient spaying and neutering efforts. Let's not forget that animals choose to attack only as a last resort, as attacks are physically costly and there is no guarantee that they themselves won't be harmed in the process.
Unfortunately, the majority of the time when provoking is involved, it is intentional instead of unintentional. There have been so many instances of recorded events where someone approaches a quietly sitting dog and starts to provoke him by kicking, hitting, shouting, throwing stones, etc.
Unintentional provoking also seems to be common, and happens when people do not know how to interact with dogs or read dogs' body language to understand when it is safe to approach. They may make direct prolonged eye contact with a dog whom they do not know, not realizing that this is actually an invitation for aggression. Or, they may have good intentions to interact, but either fail to ask for permission before touching the dog or engage in behaviors that startle the dog, such as screaming or making sudden movements towards the dog.
Here is a quick tip: The proper way to ask for permission from an outdoor dog you don't know is to 1) slowly approach the dog in a direction where he can see you, while making sure to avoid sustained direct eye contact, 2) announce your presence and good intentions by softly speaking, 3) hold out your hand and let the dog sniff it from a distance, and 4) proceed with touching the dog only if the dog does not turn his head away or move away. Bonus points if the dog wags his tail or initiates the physical contact by leaning into your hand!
Please do not chase after a dog who moves away when you try to initiate contact! By moving away, he has already made it abundantly clear that he does not want to interact. Use common sense; remember that nobody likes being startled or being touched by a stranger without permission. This is certainly true for animals too.
What are some long-term solutions moving forward?
UPDATE August 2024: As mentioned above, given that dogs are being killed every single day, the most important actions we have to take now are 1) prevent dogs from being captured and killed, 2) support all activities that will lead to this law being withdrawn, 3) join all our efforts together instead of trying to work individually, 4) place as many dogs as possible in safe locations where they can be protected from those who want to harm or kill them. Everything else I have written below is long-term and lower priority at the moment.
Spaying and neutering has been scientifically shown as an effective long-term solution.
However, spaying and neutering is not enough by itself to reduce human-dog conflicts. Education is essential. Parents can learn about human-dog interactions and teach their children to respect dogs and how to be safe around them -- not just for the safety of their children but also for the safety of the dogs too!
Veterinarians, dog behavior experts, volunteers, and locals who frequently feed outdoor dogs and are knowledgeable about individual dogs can all come together in regularly scheduled public events to provide training about dog behavior, how to read dog body language, and how to have safe human-dog interactions.
These educational events will have a positive effect on increasing people's awareness not only about dog behavior and safety, but also about dog well-being, hopefully increasing the probability that some of these dogs may be adopted.
All of these obviously need to happen in conjunction with laws that are fully reinforced with sufficient punishment for animal abuse, dog fights, illegal breeding farms, and buying /selling /abandoning animals, as if they are a piece of property.
The new law actively encourages killing dogs who are captured and "can not be rehabilitated". Humans are the only reason that these dogs are forced to live out on the streets. Due to their co-evolution with people, dogs are one of the animals that can be most easily trained; it is possible to train every single dog by approaching them with kindness, respect, patience, and love. Proposing to kill dogs who can not be trained or rehabilitated -- especially since it is not clear who will decide that a dog can not be rehabilitated, after what kind of training, and using what criteria -- is an easy way out, and so very wrong. Without a doubt, this clause of the new law will be abused by those people who want to kill dogs at will.
Furthermore, it is likely that only the calm dogs who are habituated to humans and taken care of by the locals, and who do not pose any aggressive threat to humans will be easily captured, while others who may potentially display aggressive behaviors will evade capture. Killing is never a solution; it just leads to vacuum effect where new dogs will replace the ones who have been killed, especially if people continue to keep abandoning their pets on the streets.
Let's not forget that animals are living conscious beings, with their own thoughts and emotions, as also demonstrated by more than 10000 scientific articles.
First published: June 24, 2024. Last updated: October 4, 2024