Turkey's homeless animals are in danger!
2012 - According to a draft document, prepared in secret and that was presented for approval mid September 2012, the Turkish Government intends to abolish the current program of TNR (Trap, Neuter and Return) and it proposes that municipalities round up ALL free roaming animals (dogs and perhaps even cats) and place them in what they are calling 'Dogal hayat parklari' (natural life parks).
There is every single reason to believe that those so-called “Natural Parks” will be nothing but death camps of the worst kind.
These parks will just be fenced off areas, probably forests, far from populated areas where hundreds or even thousands of animals will have to fend for themselves as they will be left there to die slow and agonizing deaths without food, and water. Many will die of starvation, others will fight to the death over whatever they can find. They will end up eating each other, like they did in the past. Many will probably suffer terrible injuries from fights over limited food sources and disease will spread through the population like wildfire.
Another crucially important change in the law is the introduction of Breed Specific Legislation. Owners of dogs whose breed is considered dangerous will be forced to surrender their animals to either be killed or incarcerated for life in those “Natural Life Parks”.
Following massive protests in all major cities of Turkey, which where supported by people from all around the world, as well as tens of thousands of signatures collected via petitions and letter send to the Turkish authorities, the Turkish government had halted their evil plans....
Until now, February, 2014 - The Turkish national assembly is again working on an amendment that, if enforced fully, will ban stray animals from living on the streets.
Another regulation that was announced on February 15, 2014 would make it easier to experiment on animals. An excerpt from this regulation includes the following clause:
c) Domestic pets such as cats and dogs that live as strays cannot be used in experiments. Nevertheless, those stray animals can be used in experiments if there is an emerging need for studies on animal health and welfare, if those strays pose a serious threat to environmental safety or human and animal health, or if there is scientific evidence in hand supporting the fact that such a study can only be conducted using stray animals.
Turkey's animal rights activists are deeply concerned about these developments.
The following text is taken from their website www.ikimart.blogspot.com:
To the attention of the public:
The latest amendment to the animal rights law has recently become an agenda item and it threatens the right to life for both stray animals and domestic pets. As defenders of the right to life for all, we declared our objection to this amendment in our press statement at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and announced this publicly in social media on February 19, 2014.
The objections to this amendment were not limited with the animal rights advocates and were shared publicly by a larger crowd of people who seek justice. Our objections became an outcry when, in just a few days’, another regulation about live animal experiments that senselessly legalizes stray animals as laboratory equipment was published in the Official Newspaper.
All these are nothing but complete denial of rightful and humane demands and an unfortunate mockery of the efforts of animal rights activists, who have signed petitions, collected hundreds of thousands of signatures, worked in the streets in an attempt to voice animals’ sufferings, and begged for justice from local and state authorities.
The view that idealizes the modern day Europe solely for isolating animals from the cities that they conquered fails to realize that it is the same European civilization that has limited animal experiments if not fully prohibited them. The hypocrisy behind this paradox is beyond our comprehension.
Our local authorities have failed to properly care for the stray population despite the fact that our animal rights law has been in action for over ten years.
With this in hand, we find it ridiculous to try to gather all the stray population in an isolated, far-away spot. The hardships of the so-called “natural habitat” are already familiar to us. Stray dogs that have been forced to live in the outskirts of Istanbul have been able to survive thanks to the invaluable financial and material support of a handful of volunteers.
Dogs and cats are not wild animals.
They are domestic animals.
Therefore their habitat is where the humans are; and not the forests. Stray animals are part of our history and cultural heritage. We have inherited from our Ottoman ancestors a traditional way of co-existing with the city’s stray dogs and cats and we will keep up with our efforts for protecting our strays no matter what. We will not ignore a companionship that dates back to 15 thousand years ago, just because a group of people behind their desks disagree with this.
We remind everybody of the fact that becoming human extends beyond being biologically human, and requires respect, justice, and mercy for all. Arguing with this is to take humanity for granted, and not us.
As a final note, we would like to make it very clear that any argument that involves the isolation, extermination, or any suggestion that suggests or implies animals’ right to birth, life, and death is non-negotiable.
How to take action
You can support Turkey's activists by sending an email to the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs (eroglu@ormansu.gov.tr ), and to the Environmental Commission (cevrekom@tbmm.gov.tr) expressing why the new amendment and the experiment regulation should be cancelled.
Please sign also the petitions that you will find on the petition page of this website.
For more information and details on our upcoming protest on March 2, 2014, please visit www.ikimart.blogspot.com
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