I want to give you a report of the outcome of my meeting with the Ministry Officials in Ankara on Friday 12 October 2012.
The meeting took place in the conference room of the Forest Ministry, with Mr Ahmet Ozyanik, the General Director of the Forest Ministry, Mr. Nurettin Tas, the General Director of National Parks Ministry, Mr. Ozcan Yaman,Deputy Director of the Forestry Ministry, Mr. Gokhan Beyhan, Deputy Director, Vets Mr. Mehmet Ali Yasar and Mrs. Hayriye Eren.
The meeting started with a general get-to-know you session after which I asked them what gave them the idea to make themselves unpopular with all animal lovers! The General Director, Mr. Ozyanik said the intentions of what they proposed had been totally misunderstood by people.
He said their plan is to still undertake neutering and returning of street dogs, as the Animal Protection Law requires, but their amendments to this is directed towards certain dogs that cannot be returned to the streets and he went on to suggest that naturally dangerous types of dogs, dogs which have become aggressive through maltreatment, unhealthy dogs, etc. are the dogs they have in mind that should never be returned to the community.
In his opinion these category of dogs should be re-settled in special places which would be provided by the Forest Ministry, to live in comfort till the end of their days, he said.
With regard to those dogs that could be returned to the street, he outlined an interesting suggestion that people in the community should be encouraged to adopt them in a loose way by taking care of them wherever possible if the dogs are in the neighbourhood. People like shop-keepers, restaurant owners, where dogs will generally go to seek food, and members of the public if they are so inclined. He said this will be a community undertaking to encourage more caring feelings towards stray dogs.
He said these are the changes they want to make to the existing Law. With theses changes he said they will end the roaming of too many dogs on the streets.
Having outlined their plan, I told Mr. Ozyanik that it was very honourable of him to care for animals in this way but I thought it would be impracticable and very difficult to maintain in the long term.
I then gave my suggestions to an alternative way to reduce the stray dog population on the streets, point by point, which he was in agreement with and instructed the officials to go ahead with implementing my proposals.
These points included the stopping of the illegal importation of puppies from countries outside Turkey, such as Romania which is responsible for a lot of illegal dog importation into Turkey.
To stop the illegal breeders in Turkey from operating, and to control licensed breeders.
To stop pet-shops from selling animals such as dogs and cats.
To encourage the voluntary neutering of privately-owned dogs, or by enforcement where necessary.
I insisted that if they can’t incorporate these points into the Law then they will never control the increasing dog population. They agreed!
Other points included the role of the Veterinary service. I spoke of the importance of key-hole surgery for speeding up the recovery process after the neutering of those dogs where they need to be returned to the street.
Not every vet is proficient in this technique and Mr. Ozyanik said he was fascinated by this idea. He said he would like to start a training program for those Vets that will be operating animals in the Municipality shelters, to begin in December this year and continue through the winter months. He asked me if I could help to start this training program by sending trained vets to the training centres, once located, and to this end I would like to ask if anyone could provide me with the names of any vet trained in key-hole surgery who would be willing to help with this training program.
Further responsibilities of the Veterinary Service was discussed, in particular the setting up of a national register of dog owners. A data-base of all dog owners that are known by local vets should be collated in their communities and compiled into a shared-information service available to interested government departments such as the Agriculture and Forestry Ministries and most importantly the local municipalities who should be aware of the names of private dog owners.
The vets should compulsorily micro-chip every dog that comes to their practice for treatment. The status of any dog that is found roaming the street and is caught and taken to a local shelter would be easily identified by this method and unnecessary operations avoided. I told them that in Fethiye we are collecting only free-roaming dogs on the streets now that there are no longer any stray dogs on the streets but we don’t know if the private dogs are neutered or not.
The vets should also try to influence and encourage private dog owners to have their pets neutered. At present there is no lawful requirement for them to do so. Their free-roaming pet is presently responsible for many unwanted litters, which are then generally abandoned or brought to shelters.
I advised that in many countries there is a dog tax the amount to be paid dependant on whether the animal is neutered or not. I suggested a similar scheme be introduced and tongue-in-cheek said a tax of 50 TL for a neutered dog and 500 TL for one not neutered. A worthwhile scheme but they said this would have to be discussed with the Tax Authority.
Our discussions turned to the number of dogs people should own. This is important in residential areas where any one dog can be disturbing to the neighbours. Complaints of any noisy or disturbing dog should be directed to the National Parks Dept., which
departments are in most cities, and this dept. should also liaise with local shelters to provide any help and assistance in undertaking their responsibilities.
I suggested the setting up of an office in each of the Ministries that have a responsibility within the Animal Protection Law so that future enquiries, suggestions, complaints, and general assistance can be readily given to the enquirer as opposed to the present system where no-one knows who to contact and is generally sent from office to office where no-one takes any responsibility to deal with the enquiry/complaint etc. They listened to my suggestion and said they would consider it.
The question of euthanasia was brought up by me. I said that this should only be done if the animal is considered by the vet to be so ill or injured to have no chance of recovery or its quality of life thereby diminished. They looked at me in shock and said that they would be more concerned about the reaction of the animal lovers to this proposal!
Mr. Ahmet is very sensitive towards the subject of animals and animal lovers. He doesn’t want to harm any animal or hurt the feelings of animal lovers. He wants to do the best for all of them. As a Ministry they have printed 5 different posters and 3 brochures which all emphasise the love people should have for animals and that people should care for them. The brochures in particular encourage people to adopt an animal.
They showed me the plan of an existing Animal Park which has been set up in Kocaeli in the north of Turkey. He said the animals in there are very well looked after.
Now they are planning to set up a bigger Animal Park in 170 hectares of Forest Land to give the animals that can’t live on the streets a peaceful life for the rest of their days, he says. I asked how many dogs they were thinking of looking after - 1000, 5000, 10,000?
In summary, I am not sure if my meeting with them has changed their mind to set up this new Animal Park. They were receptive to many of my suggestions but they are convinced this is the way to look after animals that couldn’t survive on the streets. In their minds they just want to do the best.
The good outcome of the meeting is that if all the points which I made, and were accepted by them, could be incorporated into the Law then, after time, the dog population will be kept to manageable levels.
Following on from my meeting, a draught of the amendments to the Animal Protection Law will be presented by Mr. Ozyanik to the Commission which is composed of 21 Members of Parliament who sit to discuss and incorporate agreed amendments. The President of this Commission is Mr. Erol Kaya and it was suggested that a prior meeting with him and myself would be advantageous. I will try to arrange for this meeting in due course.
Perihan Agnelli
