The word ‘‘Shelter” ;

It means death within a couple of weeks at best for so many animal lovers throughout the globe,for those who have to bear the incredible pain of living in a country where they pick and leave behind the animals deemed ”unadoptable”,  killing the latter with a deathly injection if they are lucky,and may we add this is called ”humanely putting to sleep”, if not gassing them to death,depriving them from the last grasp of air in their chest, depriving them from their primary and most important right in Earth :

the RIGHT TO LIVE.

So many animal activists are fighting every minute of their daily life to change this incredible cruelty implemented in the animal welfare laws of their country of origin.Those who fight in that ring know more than anyone else the feeling of frustration and having to face the constant apathy of their government regarding the loss of thousands of lives each year.

Turkey is one of the countries where the animal protection law – 5199 does not include the  population control for the stray animals through the means of euthanasia. Instead Turkish Government implemented a CNVR program – (Capture,Neuter,Vaccinate,Return) . Sadly this program has failed to be successful in the practise.The stray population has not ceased to grow.If you are one of the people who regularly visit shelters and rescue from turkish shelters you know why and how it has failed .

Here is the ”R” of the CNVR program a la turca ;

-video taken from EHKD-

At the surface the animal protection law  covered the issues such as neutering and returning the strays to their habitat however a very sinister practise has been performed ; thousands of dogs died because they left their abdomens open after the operations,thousands got infected due to the poor operating room conditions and the rest died of hunger and neglect during the ”R” of the program.Instead of  returning these strays to where they have been found, the government dumped them by thousand to the isolated forests encircling the city.

According to the No-Kill equation these  are MANDATORY for a No-Kill program to succeed;

1. TNR Program
2. High-Volume, Low-Cost Spay/Neuter
3. Rescue Groups
4. Foster Care
5. Comprehensive Adoption Programs
6. Pet Retention
7. Medical and Behavior Prevention & Rehabilitation
8. Public Relations/Community Involvement
9. Volunteers
10. Proactive Redemptions
11. A Compassionate DirectorThe CNVR program in Turkey did not succeed because many of these mandatory organisations are lacking.Most importantly many shelters lack a ”compassionate director” . When people in charge of executing the law lack the virtue to do so , the practise becomes twisted.

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    A malpractise already up and running since many years had taken a giant leap : now as if the lack of precise organization and compassionate action was not enough, the turkish government decided to take the murder to another level.

    This time by taking direct action !

    
    -Thousands marched in various cities on September 30 to protest the proposal-

    The new bill foresees taking all stray dogs (and possibly cats) off the streets and moving them into so called ‘natural life parks’  ie: probably just fenced off areas located miles away from city centers where animals will be left to fend for themselves. This marks a significant change in approach to the government’s current “catch, neuter and return” (CNR) policy allowing strays to live on the streets once they have been neutered, tagged and vaccinated by local councils.

    Given Turkey’s municipal shelters’ less than successful track record in the proper care of animals, activists fear that authorities will fail to provide the necessary humane living environments for these animals. (It is estimated that there are about 100 thousand strays roaming the streets of Istanbul alone!) It is likely that without appropriate resources and supervision these facilities will become hotbeds for disease and hundreds or even thousands of dogs might die of starvation or suffer terrible injuries from fights over limited food sources.

    
    Some of the other proposed changes to the current law include: relaxing regulations on animal testing, the introduction of Breed Specific Legislation that would ban ownership (yet to be determined) of ‘dangerous breeds’ and force owners to surrender their pets to be euthanized, as well as the introduction of limits on how many pets may be kept on a property,

    Another major request from welfare organizations and us volunteers is the adoption of more effective welfare legislation starting with the classification of animal abuse as a criminal offense under the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) rather than being treated as a misdemeanor as it stands now.

    We also call for the introduction of stricter laws regarding licensing and regulation of pet shops and breeders, as well as a the development comprehensive responsible pet ownership across the country.

    We urge you all to please sign the petition below.
    This is a collaborative call-to-action from 38 civil society organisations.
    
    (You just need to tick ‘other countries’ if you live abroad)

    http://www.sessizkalmasucaortakolma.com/dilekce/dilekce_detay.asp?id=1376