The past, present and the future of the stray animals in Turkey

Özentürk U.

Better Science for Better Animal Welfare, 1st Regional Animal Welfare Conference, 10 - 11 Mart 2020, ss.19-20

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.19-20
  • Atatürk Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Introduction

Stray animals are domestic species that spend whole life in the city or towns, together with human. It is necessary to restrict the numbers of the population and keep under control of the animals for the health and welfare of the human, animal and environment. It is estimated that, about 8 million stray animals live in the streets of Turkey’s towns. There have been many animal shelters and rehabilitation centers built for street animals throughout the country. In these centers, vaccination, sterilization, medical treatment, marking, hospitalization services are carefully performed. In the present study, difficulties in practice and solutions for the improvement of stray animal management are analyzed.

Materials and Methods

Republic of Turkey’s current laws, legislations, scientific articles and news written about the stray animals, examples of public events, actual implementations and vision are reviewed in this article.

Results

In Turkey, on-going welfare problems regarding stray animals can be summarized as follows:

 Deficiency in implementation of the legislation, insufficient penal codes, lack of governance,

 Limited awareness of the public on the stray animals,

 Coordination, organization and cooperation problems among legal offices,

 Excess numbers of stray animals and wide geographical location of the country.

Discussion and Conclusions

Solutions for the improvement of the welfare of stray animals in Turkey can be summarized as follows:

 Upgrade of the current legislation, increase of the penalties,

 Raising of the public concern on animal welfare,

 Increasing the number of the technical staff and the rehabilitation centers, where needed.

In Turkish society, it has been important to protect the creatures within the framework of the religion, traditions, customs and legal regulations, from past to present. In the future, it is estimated that by the elimination of the deficiencies, targets regarding welfare of the animals will be achieved.