Steph M Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Pet ownership has been rising sharply in Turkey as the median income improves and attitudes change, and now Ankara has decided it's time to regulate. Amendments to the Animal Rights bill passed this week lay down the criteria to own animals, and set minimal conditions for the animal's comfort and wellbeing. More draconically, the amendments require that future pet owners undergo training first – and graduate wp in Turkey (and Brazil, China and Thailand) has been spiking. Pet ownership in Turkey rose 39% from 1998 to 2002, though it bears saying that dogs and cats were not particularly popular there – neither made it to the top 15 pets Turks kept during those years: smaller animals such as rabbits were more popular. The first criterion for owning a pet is having suitable accommodation that meets the pet's ethological needs, Hurriyet reports. The owner must also care for its health; presently the sub-committee dealing with animal rights is also discussing creating a requirement to take any animal hurt in a traffic accident for veterinary treatment. Abuse has been criminalized for the first time: torturing or ill-treating an animal can result in prison sentences, following the amendments. The penalties are not trivial, at least for homeowners: Get caught causing torture and you could face a 2,000-lira fire ($942 at today's exchange rate). Deliberate maltreatment of animals (that falls short of torture) will run you half that amount, and walking your dog without a leash and muzzle will set you back 500 liras, or $236. "Those who sell and own pets are obliged to participate in training programs," says the law, according to Hurriyet's translation. The Turkish lawmaker had an eye out for the people, too. While about it, anybody selling or adopting a pet must "take precautionary measures to prevent environmental pollution," and will have to pay compensation if the animal causes discomfort to others. Casual euthanasia is frowned upon, and animal experiments will require approval by ethics councils, the law says. Bestiality is another no-no – and that offense will lead to jail time, of up to two years, says Hurriyet. How the Turkish authorities mean to enforce the amendments remains to be seen. Also, one thing the committee has not regulated yet is animal sacrifice, which remains a not-uncommon practice. Following news of the amendment, surfers discussed this issue on Turkish Internet forums, in part vying to tell stories of the suffering the animals experience during inefficient sacrifice practices. Like in Israel, the streets in urban Turkey are thronged with strays. But in Israel the strays are mainly cats: Turkey has a huge problem with stray dogs, going back at least centuries, and Turks generally have evinced a horror of killing the animals for the sake of "population control" even though rabies is definitely a problem. Writing about fictional events in the late 16th century in his book "My name is Red," the Nobel-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk describes the distaste many Turks - as Muslims - traditionally felt for dogs, explaining that they were considered "unclean." However, attitudes do change. And if you feel like moving to Turkey with your personal pets anyway, keep this in mind: one person may take no more than two animals per entry into Turkey, be it cats or dogs or both. More than that and you're considered to be trafficking in pets. In Israel, the Knesset enacted the Animal Rights law in 1994, criminalizing abuse and handing down a sentence of up to three years' prison time for offenders. Even siccing one animal onto another is prohibited, so dog fights are out; abandoning the animal is also against the law. One effect the law has had was to end the cruel practice of force-feeding geese to cause liver bloat for the sake of making foie gras. Interesting idea, what do you all think? Containa some big steps forward for a previously not very animal saavy country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph M Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 Oops. Link here! http://www.haaretz.com/mobile/1.588162 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Well with all I see as a rescuer, I wish Australia would make it a lot harder for people to own pets. Many people leave their dogs with mouthfuls of bad teeth and yet complain about their breath. Goodness knows a trip to the vet for a check might explain it but they often don't want to spend any money on their "beloved Jimmy" and explain it away due to age etc. People get breeds of dogs because they like the look of them - the recent calls I had for the Toy Poodle I rescued were a major eye opener. Clueless people - either wanted the TP because they thought it was cute or they wanted something that didn't shed. I got her in a horrific state and was not going to ever let that happen to her again. More stringent ownership requirements might also prevent the sort of calls rescue gets such as yesterday's from an 84 yr old with no one to help her should anything go wrong - bought a petshop puppy 2 months ago and can't cope - now that's a surprise. Dog had to go right away .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_PL_ Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 The OTT 'Let's Adopt Global' rescue/advocacy movement began in Turkey, and they shone a light on some of the gruesome animal abuse and the vile conditions in shelters. I'm pleased the govt is at least recognising there is a problem. Without reading the legislation in detail I'm sure it contains a few pointless items but they had to do something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha bet Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Oh the eutopia of bringing out animal ownership laws..... every rescue association would love to see Hence the government would be the one who decide who is acceptable to have a pet and who isn't..... excuse my sarcasm...... but do we really need MORE rules..... Australia already has many rules with regard to animal welfare and the authorities don't police these now, how on earth are they going to police more rules? If we are not careful pet ownership will be for the elite only.... and eventually no one. A SAD DAY.... South East Asia and other regions do not yet have a high ownership, in fact there are many countries who just co-exist with animals. Consider Samoa who have dogs roaming at will, they don't create a problem to the locals but only the tourists who try to interfer with them......Let these countries deal with their own situation in the way they feel best for their situation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Oh the eutopia of bringing out animal ownership laws..... every rescue association would love to see Hence the government would be the one who decide who is acceptable to have a pet and who isn't..... excuse my sarcasm...... but do we really need MORE rules..... Australia already has many rules with regard to animal welfare and the authorities don't police these now, how on earth are they going to police more rules? If we are not careful pet ownership will be for the elite only.... and eventually no one. A SAD DAY.... South East Asia and other regions do not yet have a high ownership, in fact there are many countries who just co-exist with animals. Consider Samoa who have dogs roaming at will, they don't create a problem to the locals but only the tourists who try to interfer with them......Let these countries deal with their own situation in the way they feel best for their situation People need to be more knowledgeable about what it takes to be a good dog owner, far too many a clueless owner out there, very clueless and very irresponsible. Rescuers see the very worst - en masse - on a constant basis, I really think that would change anyone's viewpoint on this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melzawelza Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Oh the eutopia of bringing out animal ownership laws..... every rescue association would love to see Hence the government would be the one who decide who is acceptable to have a pet and who isn't..... excuse my sarcasm...... but do we really need MORE rules..... Australia already has many rules with regard to animal welfare and the authorities don't police these now, how on earth are they going to police more rules? If we are not careful pet ownership will be for the elite only.... and eventually no one. A SAD DAY.... South East Asia and other regions do not yet have a high ownership, in fact there are many countries who just co-exist with animals. Consider Samoa who have dogs roaming at will, they don't create a problem to the locals but only the tourists who try to interfer with them......Let these countries deal with their own situation in the way they feel best for their situation People need to be more knowledgeable about what it takes to be a good dog owner, far too many a clueless owner out there, very clueless and very irresponsible. Rescuers see the very worst - en masse - on a constant basis, I really think that would change anyone's viewpoint on this area. Nope, I contribute a lot to rescue and work with rescuers who are progressive minded and look at the evidence from around the world of what reduces shelter killing - and it isn't things like pet licensing/mandatory desexing/all the other silly things people push. Yes it can be easy in rescue to only see the worst, get jaded, complain about the 'irresponsible public' etc, but that's not really an excuse and it's not helpful to the actual goal of improving lives for pets and reducing shelter killing. Punishing people into compliance has never and will never work. Killing will simply increase, as it always does when these sorts of things are implemented. On the contrary, pet owner support and pound prevention programs over in the States are massively reducing surrenders and are a big contributor to getting kill rates right down and keeping pets in their homes. Most people love their pets and want to do the right thing by them but haven't either through lack of knowledge or resources. Give them the knowledge (in a non judgemental way) and/or the resources and life improves for both the pet and the owner in the majority of cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 (edited) Melzawelza, you and I won't agree on this or pretty much any other subject. "Love" is not enough to make a good dog owner and comes in all different forms, it can prove totally inadequate when caring for another being. Who said I was advocating punishment for people? More education and resources would be brilliant and no petshops and puppy farms, no oops litters, more people going to registered breeders that really know their breed and can make a match between individual puppies and owners would also be better than just picking dogs on their looks and ending up with an unsuitable match. So glad you have found some "progressive" rescuers to work with, I'm sure you'll get it all sorted out at some point. Edited May 4, 2014 by Her Majesty Dogmad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_PL_ Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Abuse has been criminalized for the first time: torturing or ill-treating an animal can result in prison sentences, following the amendments. The penalties are not trivial, at least for homeowners: Get caught causing torture and you could face a 2,000-lira fire ($942 at today's exchange rate). The images of a turkish dog who had been raped and tortured to death will stay with me forever. And the perpetrator was known but there was no law to protect the dog. We can argue the finer points of pet ownership and welfare but this country is starting from scratch. Their animals need protecting with basic rights like those in countries with RSPCA et al. The Lets Adopt Global site is having trouble loading, you can find them on FB. I'm not sure I know of a larger Turkish rescue group and their dogs are adopted internationally, but I warn you of graphic content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melzawelza Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 (edited) Melzawelza, you and I won't agree on this or pretty much any other subject. "Love" is not enough to make a good dog owner and comes in all different forms, it can prove totally inadequate when caring for another being. Who said I was advocating punishment for people? More education and resources would be brilliant and no petshops and puppy farms, no oops litters, more people going to registered breeders that really know their breed and can make a match between individual puppies and owners would also be better than just picking dogs on their looks and ending up with an unsuitable match. So glad you have found some "progressive" rescuers to work with, I'm sure you'll get it all sorted out at some point. Not allowing anyone to own a pet unless they've done an arbitrary course is punishing people into supposed compliance. What happens if someone hasn't done the course? Can't afford to? The course isn't running near them? Course only runs on a certain day and they have to work on that day? Seize the pet? Yep - that's definitely good for pets and impounding rates. You didn't say you wanted to see more education and owner support, you said want to make it harder for people to own pets - how is that not punishing people, the majority of which are good people who do the right thing by their pets. The ones that don't will very often come good with some help and guidance. Watch those kill rates skyrocket with that one. The reason I responded to you is that you said that because rescuers see the worst their opinions would be the same as yours. That isn't the case. Plenty of people in rescue look outside their own small bubble to the bigger picture, and to places that are doing it well. If you want to say that you have that opinion based on your own experiences that's fine, but don't imply that it's a general 'rescue' opinion and that anyone that has seen some awful rescue things would have their minds changed. The whole shelter pet thing can actually be sorted - there are many communities now in the USA that are importing rescue pets in to their shelters from other areas because they have pretty much emptied theirs. It'll never be sorted while people continue to cling to the old animal welfare attitudes though. You're right that love on it's own sometimes isn't enough but it's a damn good start, and if people love their pets but aren't knowledgeable enough to do the right thing for them, you can usually help them to do so as long as you don't come at them finger pointing and making them feel inadequate. As far as the general animal cruelty laws being implemented in Turkey, that's a great thing and it's awful to think there were next to none until now. Edited May 5, 2014 by melzawelza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply Grand Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I'm really interested in the models you're talking about melza, I'll see what I can find about it. It is really easy when you're on the ground with the dogs that have had a rough trot and are needing a new home to want to restrict who they go to. IME we tend to want to find the 'perfect' home according to how we ourselves would do things and it's very easy to fall into the mind set that anything different to that is insufficient. I definitely do it myself, especially when it comes to training methods and having dogs inside. However I think we have to accept that there are many different ways to adequately care for a pet, there are plenty of different approaches just on DOL. Basic standards of care and humanity are needed but I think we are being impractical (although very human) if we seek to prescribe exactly how people should look after their animals according to our own standards. I'm talking about a shelter situation rather than in home foster care btw. Many dogs cope fairly well in a shelter environment, adaptable creatures that they are, but in reality it is far from an adequate life for a companion animal so by being over-prescriptive about who we rehome to or encouraging people to surrender because we don't think they are providing a good enough home to we risk actually making the animals life worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melzawelza Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I'm really interested in the models you're talking about melza, I'll see what I can find about it. It is really easy when you're on the ground with the dogs that have had a rough trot and are needing a new home to want to restrict who they go to. IME we tend to want to find the 'perfect' home according to how we ourselves would do things and it's very easy to fall into the mind set that anything different to that is insufficient. I definitely do it myself, especially when it comes to training methods and having dogs inside. However I think we have to accept that there are many different ways to adequately care for a pet, there are plenty of different approaches just on DOL. Basic standards of care and humanity are needed but I think we are being impractical (although very human) if we seek to prescribe exactly how people should look after their animals according to our own standards. I'm talking about a shelter situation rather than in home foster care btw. Many dogs cope fairly well in a shelter environment, adaptable creatures that they are, but in reality it is far from an adequate life for a companion animal so by being over-prescriptive about who we rehome to or encouraging people to surrender because we don't think they are providing a good enough home to we risk actually making the animals life worse. Great post! Here's a couple of links I quickly pulled up to some communities that are saving over 90% of the animals in their shelters (and it's not through owner licensing, compulsory courses, mandatory desexing or other punitive measures). There's heaps of others I'll try and find later. Austin 'Out the Front Door' - listing 242 communities saving over 90% Downtown Dog rescue provide services to people that turn up at the local LA shelter wanting to surrender their pets, and keep quite a few hundred animals in their homes every year by helping them: Downtown Dog Rescue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Lort Smith Animal Hospital here in Melbourne is doing some great work keeping owners and pets together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melzawelza Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 That's great to hear TSD! Just saw this article in my news feed. Seems I vastly underestimated how many surrenders downtown dog rescue have prevented in the last year. It is in the thousands, not the hundreds. http://www.examiner.com/article/surrender-prevention-program-exceeds-its-lifesaving-goal-by-655 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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