Important Amendments to the Animal Protection Law and Our Opinions

i. Definitions of Owned/Stray Animals:

An owned animal is defined as a pet that is owned by a person, organisation, institution or legal entity, which is cared for, vaccinated, periodically checked and registered in the database of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry ("Ministry"). Stray animals are defined as domestic animals other than "owned animals" and their scope has been expanded.

Another expression whose definition has been revised is animal care shelters, which is a facility where animals are rehabilitated/expected to be rehabilitated, and the scope of animal care shelters has been narrowed and defined as places where Stray animals are sheltered until they are adopted.


ii. In Terms of Care Shelters:

In parallel with this, while before the Law Amendment, local governments could establish animal care shelters in cooperation with voluntary organisations for the "protection" of stray "and weakened" animals, with the Law Amendment, animal care shelters can only be established on the condition that "Stray animals" are cared for until they are adopted. In addition to this article, this regulation has been reinforced by stipulating that the animals taken into care shelters will be registered in the data system of the Ministry and the rehabilitated dogs will be kept in animal care shelters until they are adopted.

Previously, it was essential that animals that were sterilised, vaccinated and rehabilitated in the observation centres be released to the environment they were taken from after being registered, but with this new regulation, it is stated that they will be sheltered until they are adopted and will not be released back.

The provision regulated in the continuation of the article that prohibits the ownership of animals by persons who act contrary to the provisions for the protection of animals or who seriously neglect the care of the animals they have adopted or who cause pain, suffering or damage to them, and regulates the confiscation of their animals; The provision that ensures that the animals are re-adopted or taken under protection, but those of the animals in question who have the quality of adoption will be sheltered in the animal care shelters until they are adopted.


iii. In Terms of "Care" and "Rehabilitation" of Animals:

While before the Law Amendment, land, buildings and fixtures could be allocated to persons who take care of or wish to take care of stray and weakened animals solely for humanitarian and conscientious purposes, provided that they do not gain any profit or benefit, with the Law Amendment, this right has been granted only to for "persons who wish to adopt an animal by establishing an animal care shelter".

In addition, the article regulating the release of rehabilitated animals to the environment where they were taken by the municipality that brought them to the care shelter has been removed and replaced with the provision that rehabilitated dogs will be housed in animal care shelters until they are adopted.

In the following part of this article, the provision that the necessary measures shall be taken for the sterilisation of non-rehabilitated stray dogs and for their recovery after sterilisation before they are returned to the environment from which they were taken, and that the Ministry shall provide assistance for the sterilisation of dogs within this scope, has been completely removed. As a result, it can be said that a regulation has been made that healthy animals that are not adopted will remain in care shelters for the rest of their lives.


iv. Regarding The Euthanasia of Animals:

With the Law Amendment, the regulation, which is among the basic principles regarding the protection and comfortable living of animals; that domestic animals have the freedom to live in the living conditions specific to their species and that the lives of Stray animals should be supported like owned animals, has been completely removed from the Law.

The regulation, which completely prohibits the killing of stray or weakened animals, has been expanded by "excluding legal exceptions" and new regulations on the killing of animals have been introduced under the title "Slaughter, Euthanasia and Prohibitions of Animals":

• Of the dogs taken into care, those that pose a danger to the life and health of humans and animals, whose negative behaviour cannot be controlled, who have an infectious or incurable disease, or whose adoption is prohibited will be euthanised.


• In addition, local administrations are authorised to take the necessary administrative measures within the scope of the European Convention for the Protection of Domestic Animals, which was approved by the Decision of the Council of Ministers dated 28/8/2003 and numbered 2003/6168, in the works and transactions carried out regarding stray dogs. Within the scope of this convention, administrative measures such as reducing the number of Stray animals and killing them are also regulated.

In order to increase the applicability of these two new regulations, these actions have been excluded in terms of the expression "the person who intentionally kills a pet or domestic animal" which regulates judicial penalties.


v. In Terms of the Article Regulating Prohibitions on Animals:

Artificial interventions that may harm animals or their offspring or eggs in the womb, and the administration of foreign substances are restricted "except for legal and medical reasons". It is forbidden to abandon Stray animals collected on behalf of local administrations to a place other than a care shelter, or to leave dogs housed in a care shelter to a place other than a care shelter. In the event of such violations, an administrative fine of 50,000 TRY per animal is imposed. Furthermore, the administrative fine for those who abandon their pets has been increased from 2,000 TRY to 60,000 TRY.


vi. In Terms of The Authority of Local Administrations/Municipalities:

It has been regulated that metropolitan municipalities, provincial municipalities and municipalities with a population exceeding 25,000 shall establish animal care shelters in order to protect stray or weakened or endangered animals and ensure their care and rehabilitation until they are adopted, and "metropolitan district municipalities and other municipalities" have been excluded from the scope of this authority. These municipalities are obliged to establish these animal nursing homes and improve the conditions of existing nursing homes until 31/12/2028.

Municipalities that are not included in the above scope have the obligation to take the animals in their area of liability to the nearest animal care shelter, but they are not obliged to establish animal care shelters. With the Law Amendment, special provincial administrations have been added to these municipalities.

In addition, it is stated that until 31/12/2028, municipalities will allocate resources at the rate of 5% (five per thousand) of their latest finalised budget revenues to establish animal care shelters, carry out rehabilitation procedures and care for Stray animals until they are adopted, and this rate will be applied as 3% (three per thousand) in metropolitan municipalities.

Although these ratios have remained the same with the Law Amendment, an additional regulation has been introduced; it has been regulated that the Ministry of Treasury and Finance will transfer 40 per cent of the expenditures made by the municipalities above these ratios to the relevant municipality, if they do not exceed 40 per cent of these determined ratios and are certified. In addition, in terms of the relevant municipalities, the mayor and council members who do not allocate the specified resources, and the mayor and municipal officials who do not spend the allocated resources for the specified reasons or who spend this resource for other purposes will be sentenced to imprisonment from 6 months to 12 years.


vii. OUR OPINIONS:

Although the Law Amendment has introduced some regulations on animal rights and welfare, in our humble opinion, the legislative activity (evaluation of the draft text, approval, amendment, when necessary, in line with criticisms, etc.) should have been able to reflect social expectations in a more comprehensive manner.

It is a basic principle of the sociology of law that the legislature is expected to take steps by considering the public conscience while introducing regulations with pluralistic perspectives and especially on issues that directly concern society and to act in a way that reflects the voices of all groups of society in this process.

With the Law Amendment, animals that live/can continue to live on the streets without harming anyone and which are defined as "Stray animals" with the Law Amendment are expected to be collected and adopted in animal care shelters for a certain period of time, and then the animals that are not adopted "pose a danger to the life and health of humans and animals and whose negative behaviours cannot be controlled, The fact that "those with infectious or incurable diseases or those who are forbidden to be owned" can be put to sleep by euthanasia method is open to subjective evaluations.

With the regulation introduced, local governments which can use their discretionary rights are justified to cause the death of Stray animals on subjective reasons such as "the animal is aggressive", "it has an infectious and incurable disease", "it poses a danger to public safety", "it carries an infectious disease", "it harms wildlife and biodiversity", which are considered as reasons for euthanasia.

Although it has been amended to state that Stray animals that are eligible for adoption will be housed in an animal care home until they are adopted, there are no animal care homes in our country that can accommodate all Stray animals living on the streets. Therefore, it is not possible to expect the realisation of an action plan, one step of which is "sheltering in an animal care shelter", without increasing the number of animal care shelters that can accommodate all animals collected from the streets.

On the other hand, the dictionary meaning of the word "euthanasia" regulated by the Law Amendment is the right to die. In the structure regulated within the scope of the Law Amendment, killing is mentioned, not euthanasia. Although the term euthanasia is deliberately preferred instead of the act of killing, it is clear that euthanasia is the exercise of the right to end the life of a suffering person. Since it is not possible for an animal, which does not have the ability to express itself, to exercise its right to die, it can be considered that this expression may also offend the public conscience.

You can access the full text of the Law Amendment here.


Cerensu Çetin Yenigün, Senior Associate
Tuana Yıkıcı, Trainee Associate