The ruling party in Turkey introduced a bill to parliament that aims to address the issue of millions of stray dogs. The bill proposes that municipalities be responsible for rounding up stray dogs and placing them in shelters until they are adopted.
Aggressive dogs or those with untreatable diseases would be euthanized under the proposed law. The initial version of the bill included a provision to put down all street dogs within a month, but it was removed after public outcry. The estimated population of street dogs in Turkey is 4 million, and the draft bill states that 2.5 million dogs have been neutered by municipalities in the past 20 years.
The bill also mandates that all municipalities allocate at least 0.3% of their annual budget to animal rehabilitation services and the construction of shelters. Municipalities are given until 2028 to build new shelters and improve existing ones.
Source: Reuters
