Two separate incidents of mass dog killings in Ankara over the past week have once again sparked nationwide protests, pressuring the parliament over Turkey’s inadequate stray animal rights laws. Animals rights advocates demand that every animal, with or without an owner, must be viewed as a living being by the law.
On the evening of April 10, the news of mass dog poisoning in Ankara’s Batikent district caused an uproar. A video showing dead dogs lying next to each other quickly circulated on social media, resulting in an immediate citizen reaction and the creation of the hashtag “#BatikentteKatliamVar” (“There’s a massacre in Batikent”).
