Vacationers can express their protest through Boykott
Bonn. After a controversial change of law, Turkey is massive against street dogs in the country. Since August 2, 2024, a loophole in the new law allows the killing of the animals. According to estimates, the number of street dogs in Turkey amounts to four million animals. The German Animal Welfare Association therefore advises animal lovers to leave Turkey outside when planning vacation.
Since the change in the law, the cruel information and images from Turkey have been piling up: dogs that are brutally captured, devastating conditions in urban animal shelters, carcasses killed street dogs, reports on abuse of animals and a radical approach to animal rights activists. “Turkey has made a serious step backwards in animal welfare, which is currently suffering from the Turkish street dogs. Our appeals for an animal-friendly solution to the responsible Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the German Embassy in Turkey, the Turkish Embassy in Germany as well as the German-Turkish parliamentarian group in the Bundestag and the appeals of numerous animal rights activists from Turkey have so far been unadorned. With the concept of 'catching, neutering, release' there is an animal-friendly alternative to reduce the street animal population, ”says Lisa Hoth-Zimak, specialist for pets at the German Animal Welfare Association. “We can only recommend animal lovers from Germany to avoid Turkey as a holiday country and thus build pressure on the Turkish government.”
If you want to help, you can inform people in your own environment about animal welfare problems or donate to animal welfare organizations who take care of street animals in Turkey. The association “Datcadogs – Help for the Street animals in Datca EV”, which takes care of the castration and supply of street animals, is connected to the German Animal Welfare Association.