Recent attacks of dogs on children in Gaziantep, Isparta and Konya, resulted in injuries and even deaths due to children being bitten or getting in accidents while trying to escape the dogs.

While the fear of stray dogs saw an increase after the dogs, "extreme measures" taken to counter cruelty against animals were received very well by those who love animals. Turkish singer Yıldız Tilbe, who suggested poisoning aggressive stray dogs, faced a huge backlash, especially on social media.

The attacks have rekindled the debates that have been taking place for years.

A recent survey conducted by Turkey’s Interior Ministry has revealed that the majority in Turkey do not find stray animals dangerous. According to the survey, only 34.3% of the Turkish population see stray animals as a threat while 45.1% do not find them dangerous. The survey also revealed that attacks by stray animals were rare. When asked whether they had ever been attacked by stray animals, 61.8% of the participants answered "no."

In the survey, participants were asked if stray animals should be left where they are or taken to shelters. Some 39.3% said they should be taken to shelters while 45.1% said they should be left where they are.

Some people believe that hunger and actions of people drive stray animals toward aggression while others see human beings as superior to all other living things and argue that the protection of human life should take priority.

So where does the mistake lie? Why are people seeing stray dogs as monsters? Are existing practices sufficient? What more can be done about this issue?

Why are dogs on streets?

Turkey has been seeking a solution to the problem of stray dogs on the streets for many years. Unneutered dogs are one of the main reasons for the increase in the number of dogs on the street. It is much easier to adopt a dog in Turkey compared to many other countries. Even dogs that were classified as "dangerous breeds" could be easily adopted before the regulation on dangerous breeds came into force in January. Dogs often bought from pet shops are left in mountainous areas and places far from city centers when their owners are unable to provide adequate care. I have also witnessed this situation being exacerbated in Istanbul's holiday resort district of Silivri. People buy dogs as puppies at the beginning of summer and leave them somewhere at the end of the season. Unable to find the due care, these dogs eventually adapt to street life.

The breeding of stray dogs is difficult to control since stray dogs interact with more dogs than those kept at home and thus have more puppies. Stray animals that are forced to make the streets their home have difficulty in finding food and water and sometimes even face dangerous situations due to traffic and crowds. Such dogs are likely to become aggressive.

Speaking to Daily Sabah, Veterinary Behaviorist Gökhan Durukan said the main reasons for an increase in stray dogs are that animal reproduction is not controlled and people often leave their cats or dogs on the streets when their expectations of a "robot animal" are not met. Durukan also stated that people who buy dogs without considering that they would have to take care of any behavioral problems that arise or diseases and avoid routine preventative veterinary practices are more likely to abandon their pets at the first negative event.

"There are already stray animals on the streets and this pool is always full. Unfortunately, registration and control cannot be put into practice. Who will punish those who leave the animal on streets? How it will be followed? Unfortunately, these are questions that have been left unanswered," Durukan said.

Stating that the streets are not a suitable place for animals, especially dogs, Durukan said: "Dogs have evolved to live with humans. In the presence of limited food, water, resting places and habitat, they first struggle to survive within the species and this causes them stress. Afterward, they may experience a hard time from people due to ill-treatment, physical and psychological violence, and viral diseases."

"Otherwise, every dog is born ready to live with humans. If its behavior deteriorates, it's mostly due to environmental reasons," he added.

Durukan emphasized that the expression "aggressive dog" is not correct because aggression is not a character trait or a disease but a "dynamic behavior" and that it emerges as a symptom of some psychiatric diseases such as stress, anxiety disorders and fear. "First of all, we should know that touching a standing dog, approaching it while it's eating or sleeping and touching the top of its head and paws can initiate aggressive behavior. When confronted with a dog exhibiting aggressive behavior, it is necessary not to go after it and not to frighten it more," he said.

What to do when faced with attack?

Highlighting the importance of staying calm when faced with a potential attack from a dog, Durukan said that the hands and arms should be kept close to the body. It is recommended to join the hands together near the groin area, avoid looking at the dog and breathing deeply, Durukan said, "In this way, we can stop the attack or reduce its duration and severity. Otherwise, the more you warn, run or attack the dogs, the more violent the attacks."

"When we come across a bear or a wild boar in the forest, it does not make sense to say to them, 'This is our forest, you go from here.' The important thing is to eliminate the problems that cause these conflicts," he said.

Noting that interactions in which you don't know what to do next can create anxiety about survival, Durukan said: "This is a very normal feeling for stray dogs and humans alike. People need to know dogs, know their behavior, know how to interact with them in a crisis. This can be achieved by raising awareness about dogs from an early period as it's done in many countries abroad."

Durukan emphasized that training on animal behavior and psychology by veterinarians could also prevent the recent sad incidents. "If we are conscious, conflicts will decrease. Many countries of the world are doing this and obtaining great results," he said.

"The stray animal problem can be solved in 10 years without harming them, with effective sterilization, a significant increase in the employment of veterinarians in the municipality and the public sector and the allotment of a budget, public education and public inspection and control of animal care," said Durukan, pointing out the important role of modern municipal management in ensuring an adequate solution to the problem of stray animals on the streets.

"Some municipalities do not even have shelters, stray dogs and cats are left at the mercy of people and private clinics. But the responsibility of stray animals lies with the municipality, which causes friction between the public and private clinics," Durukan said.

"Local governments have the huge responsibility of taking care of stray animals," he added.

Arguing that putting down animals is not the solution, Durukan said, "This is a nice way of saying it but in reality, it means they are being killed."

"An animal that is healthy should not be killed, I, as a veterinarian, advocate this. We, veterinarians, are capable of solving this problem. As long as a sufficient budget is allocated and efforts are put into organization, planning and implementation of plans, the problem can be resolved," Durukan said, adding that "euthanasia is the easy way out and it will not contribute to the solution."

What does the law say?

In Turkey, according to Article 6/4 of the Animal Protection Law No. 5199, which came into force in 2004, it is essential that sterilized, vaccinated and rehabilitated stray animals are released back into the environment they were taken from after they are registered.

Again, according to Article 7/1-a of the Implementation Regulation on the Protection of Animals, municipalities are required to take the necessary measures regarding the collection of orphaned or weakened animals, their sterilization, vaccination, providing and making the necessary medical care, returning them to the environment where they were taken from, and keeping a record of the adopted ones.

While the municipalities are responsible for the regulations regarding stray animals, two solutions are applied in line with the law: shelter and sterilization.

Animal rights associations and some animal lovers are skeptical of shelters, arguing that municipalities cannot accommodate so many stray dogs and the existing shelters do not have sufficient facilities. The solution according to those who oppose shelters, is effective sterilization and leaving the stray animals back to where they live.

‘Animals feel negative energy’

Animal rights defender and founding chairperson of the Haçiko Association (Association for the Protection of Animals from Helplessness and Neglect) Ömür Gedik believes that both effective implementations of the sterilization practice stipulated by law and increasing the number of shelters would make a significant contribution to the solution.

Speaking to Daily Sabah, Gedik said many municipalities do not have rehabilitation centers or veterinary services for stray animals and that every municipality should have centers where they can provide comprehensive animal care services.

"Haçiko has been operating for 12 years. We are feeding animals in many areas and no bites occurred during these activities. Because the teams we send to the field, our field supervisors know how to approach animals. Animals feel negative energy," said Gedik, adding that stray animals are pushed toward aggression and therefore it is very important to know how to approach them.

"Municipalities should cooperate with associations working for animal rights, with volunteers, especially with people active in the field," said Gedik, emphasizing that various collaborations would be healthier instead of municipalities or veterinary directorates taking responsibility for stray animals alone.

She also said the sale of animals in pet shops and the illegal reproduction practices of dogs and cats should be banned in order to prevent an increase in stray animals. "Adopting dogs from shelters or streets should be encouraged. The streets are full of pure-bred dogs, so those who want to buy such dogs can also consider this option," said Gedik, describing the regulation regarding compulsory microchipping of pets as a "good development" for animal rights as it prevented more dogs from being abandoned.

"As part of the activities carried out by the Haçiko, we will soon open the Beykoz Haçiko Life Farm. Here, we aim especially for children to interact with animals and spend time together, thus overcoming their fear of animals," she said, pointing out the importance of raising awareness about animal behavior and psychology.

Stating that the association organizes seminars on these issues, Gedik said, "There are no lessons in schools teaching children how to approach animals. Haçiko is trying to fill this gap. In our opinion, everyone can be taught how to behave with animals."

Emphasizing that the people working at shelters should be selected more carefully and they should be animal lovers, Gedik said, "The staff should also be trained on animal behavior and psychology. All shelters should have a 24/7 camera system. I think that if precautions are taken in the first place, the incidents of aggression can be prevented."

‘Good public policy allows no stray dogs’

Some believe that leaving the dogs back to the place where they were found after being neutered is not the right solution. Law No. 5199 is criticized in the posts on an account called "The Stray Dog Problem" on Twitter. The account argues that "neutering is not accepted as a valid solution and the dogs released back after sterilization also attack people and cause accidents."

The account’s manager told Daily Sabah that the stray dog problem is "a relatively simple problem with straightforward solutions."

"Authorities know better than anyone else that in order to prevent the threat stray dogs pose to humans, it’s necessary to collect stray dogs from the streets. Good public policy is not letting any stray dogs roam around on the streets, where every dog is taken care of by humans and is leashed when outside," the manager said.

Arguing that it cannot be expected that dogs, which are predators hunting in packs, will "coexist" peacefully with human beings, the manager of the account said, "The whole idea of tolerating the stray dog presence on the streets is absurd. A dog has no morality, does not understand the consequences of its actions. Everybody should know that already, then why do our authorities leave citizens’ safety and health at mercy of dangerous animals that can attack anytime for no apparent reason?"

Stating that the stray dog problem seems "unsolvable" because the authorities pretend that such a problem does not exist, the manager said, "unwillingness to recognize the stray dog problem is the reason why we have this situation in the first place."

The manager said cooperating with animal and dog rights organizations that advocate keeping stray dogs on the streets will not contribute to the solution of the problem. He also emphasized that there is not a single country in the world that solved their stray dog problem by neutering and releasing them back to the streets.

Stating that neutering will not significantly reduce the dog population and do not prevent aggression, the manager said, "Many also do not know that the source of stray dogs in Turkey is not abandoned pets, which are only a minor part of the stray dog population, but feral dogs. Feeding feral dogs in rural areas, landfills, forests, mountains and villages ensures that feral dog numbers will only be increasing. Some of these feral dogs will move to nearby urban areas and will create their own packs, contributing to the growing stray dog population in cities."

"Turkey is not a vegan country. We don't treat all animals the same: we kill some animals that we see as harmful, such as rats and insects, we eat some and we sacrifice others for our religious rituals," said the manager, pointing out that they hope to put pressure on legislators and officials to arrive at proper decisions that would bring some real solutions with increasing awareness regarding stray dogs.

The manager also said that the lawmakers are mostly responsible for the current situation and that the municipalities only obey the current laws.

"Feeding stray dogs makes them more aggressive toward everyone except for the person providing the food. Hunger is not a motivation of these attacks since most stray dogs in cities rarely go hungry, and yet they still behave aggressively," the manager added.

Are dog-free streets possible?

We see examples of this in some European countries. For example, the Netherlands became the world's first country to be free of stray dogs. There have been no dogs on the streets in the country since 2019. Breaking new ground in this field with the Animal Protection Association founded in The Hague in 1864, the Netherlands has a general "animal welfare" law that regulates the rules on how animals should be kept. In addition, dog owners were obliged to microchip their dogs in 2013.

If the dog with the chip goes for a walk and gets lost, it is quickly found thanks to the chip. Cats and dogs found on the road without chips are reported by people and the stray animals are taken to a shelter by specialists. Municipalities are legally responsible for caring for stray dogs or cats for at least two weeks. Two weeks later, the responsibility passes to the shelters.

Germany is one of the countries that has brought various regulations on stray dogs and dangerous species. According to the legal regulation in the country, a person who finds a stray animal on the street must report it to the shelter, veterinarian or police. The Animal Protection Law, regulates how animals are treated and provided shelter.

Pet owners in Germany also have to pay a dog tax of between 72 euros and 186 euros ($79 and $204). If the dog is among the "dangerous breeds," this tax can go even higher. It is obligatory for dogs considered dangerous to wear muzzles when in public or private spaces.

'Dangerous breed' ban in Turkey

Meanwhile, a similar regulation came into force on Dec. 7 in Turkey. The new regulation is part of a wider animal rights bill implemented last year and also brings fines on those who abandon the dogs instead of handing them over to shelters. All dogs will be sterilized at veterinary clinics before their registration and will be fitted with microchips to track their status. Owners are also required to keep their dogs on a leash and cover their mouths with muzzles at all times to prevent attacks on people and other animals. They are also barred from public spaces like playgrounds.

Under the regulation, owning a pit bull terrier, dogo Argentino, fila Brasileiro, Japanese tosa, American Staffordshire terrier or an American bully are banned. People who sell these dangerous dogs, barter them with other breeds, put them on display and smuggle them will be subject to a fine of $1,106 (TL 14,982) per dog.

As per the law, owners should also apply to provincial or district agriculture directorates to be registered in the PETVET system with a document about sterilization.

Unfortunately, some dangerous canine breeds owners abandoned their pets in isolated places ahead of the ban in a bid to skip the bureaucratic process. As new ones are added to the streets every day, it is getting harder and harder to solve the issue of stray dogs.

Long story short, there is an ethical dimension to the issue as well. In this respect, the conflict also has a dimension related to the "protection of public morality."

So, the solution to the issue needs to be balanced. On one side of the scale, there are the material and moral integrity rights of people against the attacks of stray animals. On the other side, the subjective development rights of people who care for stray animals, the right to the environment and the necessity of protecting animals from torture. This issue is not one-sided, it should be perceived as multidimensional and resolved as such.