Turkey presents bill to get stray dogs off the streets

Turkey's ruling party has presented a bill to parliament that aims to round up millions of stray dogs, a plan that has alarmed animal lovers who say a mass neutering campaign would be a better solution than locking dogs up in shelters.

Under the draft law proposed by the AK party, municipalities would be charged with getting strays off the street and into shelters until they are adopted. Aggressive dogs or any with untreatable diseases would be put down.

"Streets are not a space for dogs to live. But they have the right to live in more qualified shelters," Abdullah Guler, chair of the AK party's parliamentary group, told reporters.

An earlier version of the bill, which was leaked to Turkish media months ago, said all street dogs could be put down within a month but the provision was removed after public outcry, including from opposition politicians.

The...