Turkey's main opposition party applies to cancel law targeting stray dogs

Turkey's main opposition party applies to cancel law targeting stray dogs

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) applied to the Constitutional Court on Thursday to annul an animal protection law that critics say will lead to many dogs being put down.

Last month, Turkey's parliament passed the law, which aims to round up millions of stray dogs and put them into shelters, despite protests by animal lovers and criticism from the CHP.

The CHP has repeatedly said municipalities under its control would not implement the law.

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Turkey has an estimated 4 million stray dogs and supporters of the law cited concerns about attacks, road accidents and rabies. Under the new rules, any dogs showing aggressive behaviour or that have untreatable diseases will be put down.

"We call on the Constitutional Court to cancel all articles of the related law and prevent the inhumane treatment of innocent lives," senior lawmaker Gokhan Gunaydin said on Thursday.

The CHP also asked the court to halt the law's enforcement.

Thousands of people in the country have taken to the streets over the past few weeks to protest against the law, occasionally scuffling with police and carrying banners including slogans such as "You cannot kill them" and "Take back the law".

Turkey currently has 322 animal shelters with a capacity for 105,000 dogs, far short of what would be needed to round up the number of strays.

Residents of the country's towns and cities often take care of street animals, putting out makeshift shelters, food and water for them. One survey showed less than 3% of people supported putting them down, while nearly 80% were in favour of dogs being put in shelters.