Stray

Former Istanbul street dogs Dali and Deezi now live in the Netherlands, enjoying a pampered home life after years in a shelter in the Turkish city, and as other strays face being rounded up under a new law to clear them from the streets.

In the wake of the controversial new bill on stray animals, which has sparked a disturbing increase in mass killings of strays, politicians from across the spectrum are raising their voices against the pervasive cruelty.

Dogs have been a prominent part of Turkish culture for centuries. The Kangal Shepherd breed is a national treasure featured on postage stamps, and some strays have become local celebrities, like Boji, who earned fame for riding Istanbul's public transportation.

But this year, Turkey's stray dogs have become a contentious political issue.

Lawyers have expressed the need to impose harsher judicial penalties for incidents involving stray bullets resulting in fatalities or injuries, citing the increasing number of such cases.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has evaluated the issue of euthanizing stray animals with an amendment to the Animal Rights Law, which it has been working on for some time.

The proposal, reportedly spurred by recent dog attacks and backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will soon be submitted to Parliament.

The Kocaeli Governor's Office has sent a notice to the municipalities in the northwestern province and cited a clause on putting down uncontrolled stray animals that pose a threat to people and the environment, reigniting the prolonged debate over stray dogs.

The dean of a leading university in Istanbul is proposing a humane solution to the persistent stray dog issue in the city, ensuring both the safety of residents and welfare of the strays.  

The recent incident in the capital Ankara, in which a 10-year-old child was seriously injured after being attacked by stray dogs, has once again brought the issue of stray animals to the forefront of public discourse.

The Penny Marathon fundraiser for strays is looking for participants and volunteers to help during the event, which will take place on July 9 at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC).

A program to train at least one police officer in every police station in the country in animal rights issues will begin on Wednesday.

The officers will be trained to deal with cases related to animal abuse, be they strays, pets, working or game animals, exotic species and others, the police said.