Dogs as pets

The long-awaited regulation regarding changes to the Animal Rights Law has been published in the Official Gazette, setting new standards for the collection of stray dogs, their sheltering, adoption process, and the controversial practice of euthanasia.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has evaluated the issue of euthanizing stray animals with an amendment to the Animal Rights Law, which it has been working on for some time.

The proposal, reportedly spurred by recent dog attacks and backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will soon be submitted to Parliament.

Just two weeks ago, the Adams County, Pennsylvania, SPCA was near capacity as its kennels were filled with dogs needing homes. Now, for the first time in nearly 50 years, there are no dogs at the facility and the recent residents are spending the holidays with their new families.

The Pangrati Project (thepangratiproject.com), a youth community dedicated to revitalizing downtown Athens through culture, invites you to their Christmas Bazaar supporting strays! Join us alongside Hippie Pets, Vyronas Animal Shelter, and Adopt-a-Paw organization from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Mehmet Yüksel, the head of the Chamber of Money Changers and Jewelers in Diyarbakır (DİKO), has turned a commercial vehicle into an "animal ambulance," which transfers injured animals to veterinarians or to municipal animal shelters.

In addition to the ambulance, food is distributed to stray animals with a feeding truck.

An Interior Ministry official on Monday sought to assuage fears that the recent introduction of stricter guidelines for the licensing and operation of stray cat and dog shelters will lead to the closure of dozens of nongovernmental facilities across the country.

Animal owners, who passed Dec. 31, 2022, the last day for the microchipping process, have started to leave their pets on the street in order not to be fined as they have still not registered them in the tracking system.

Pet adoption rates have decreased by 90 percent in Turkey, as people have confined themselves to their houses.

While there has been a pet adoption boom in some countries such as the U.S., U.K. and Australia in times of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been an opposite trend in Turkey, with much fewer people wanting to adopt pets.

New legislation in Turkey will soon obligate the country’s pet owners to register their cats, dogs and weasels, and acquire identity microchips for them, a statement published in the Official Gazette on Feb. 26 read.

The Municipality of Volos in Greece's eastern mainland is on Monday launching a campaign aimed at controling the city's population of stray dogs, by getting more pets microchipped.