Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper examines the rising tension around stray dogs in Turkey from a rights-based ethical perspective. While some advocate for culling and long-term sheltering, others defend coexistence, drawing on Turkey’s long history of human-dog relations. The issue has become politically polarized, with misinformation campaigns by political and religious actors shaping public opinion. Recent government regulations have favored culling over sterilization and breeding control, despite the implementation of successful alternatives in countries like the Netherlands, Colombia, and Bhutan. The situation reveals deeper moral questions about human responsibility toward animals we have domesticated and placed in vulnerable positions. Stray dogs are not wild intruders but co-inhabitants of shared urban spaces whose current plight stems largely from human negligence. Drawing on pilot experiences abroad and ethical theory, particularly relational and political animal rights approaches, this paper defends catch-neuter-release policies as more ethical and effective alternatives. It also addresses key objections to sterilization, including reproductive freedom, cost, and the non-identity problem.
Source: Animal Ethics Review
Author: Mustafa Demir
Institution: Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Language: English
Topic: Animal Law and Welfare
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7154600467