Fears of ‘mass cull’ as Turkiye passes law to put stray dogs in shelters

Turkey’s parliament yesterday passed a law to round up millions of stray dogs and put them in shelters despite protests by animal lovers and criticism from the main opposition party, which vowed to challenge the legislation in court, Reuters reported. Critics fear the law, drawn up by President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, will lead to large numbers of dogs being put down. Turkiye has an estimated four million stray dogs and supporters of the law cited concerns about attacks, road accidents and rabies. Under the new rules, any dogs showing aggressive behaviour or that have untreatable diseases will be put down. It was approved with 275 votes in favour and 224 against. Animal rights activists have called instead for […]