Exhibition of pets prohibited but sales continue: 'This cruelty must end all together'

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

With the "Regulation Regarding Breeding, Sales, Shelter and Training Places of Pets" published in the Official Gazette, pets can only be sold online or via catalogs.

Pets will no longer be exhibited at pet shops but will continue to be sold. Sellers will upload photographs and information about pets on their websites.

With the regulation issued, provisional articles about types of cats and dogs in outlets have also come into effect and their implementation will begin on July 14. Accordingly, permitted outlets will not be allowed to sell the specified types and will have to register certain species.

Nevertheless, the new system does not prevent the sale and breeding of animals and animal rights defenders criticize the regulation.

Photo: bianet

"People will pick animals like furniture"

Speaking to bianet about the issue, Erman Paçalı, the chair of the Animal Protection Foundation of Turkey, said, "They also have hearts and feelings. This torture must end all together.

"During the law-making process, we insisted that breeding and sales should be stopped. They said sales in pet shops will be prohibited, but they concealed a trick behind it. Breeders will continue breeding, and the sales will continue on the internet and with catalog at pet shops.

"In other words, you would see animals in pet shop windows, now you will pick them from catalogs. [Animals] will be custom-breed or brought to you. If they are not commodities, how will you make dogs sold like choosing furniture from catalogs?"

Making abuse "invisible"

"Conditions in breeding places are miserable. For years, they had not even managed to control showcases in pet shops. Because of the reactions, they found a formula to make the abuse invisible. Neither breeding nor selling stops. Moreover, it will be even more impossible to control.

"[The regulation] says if an individual whose pet reproduces, they can hand over [the young] if they are not able to look after them. For example, we had an encounter during an audit ... There was clearly illegal breeding, but they were disguising it."

What else is in the regulation?

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry removed the phrase "ornamental animals" from the title of the regulation.

With an amendment to article 19, permitted breeding, selling, sheltering and training outlets will not be able to change their layout plans without an extra permission from provincial directorates of agriculture and forestry, which will prevent changes in animals' living conditions.

The law amendment

Showcasing animals in pet shops was prohibited with an amendment to the Animal Protection Law in July 2021.

Mahir Ünal, the parliamentary group deputy head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said at the time that cat and dog sales in pet shops would be prohibited. (TP/VK)