Bolu mayor puts blame on activists

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Mayor of the northwestern city of Bolu has said “he will give a good lesson to those showmen,” referring to animal rights activists who protested the poor conditions of Bolu municipality’s animal shelter over the weekend. “Animals die just like people do. We provide the best conditions for strays, but the activists search for a stage for their show – Bolu is not the place for it,” Bolu Mayor Alattin Yılmaz was quoted as saying by Radikal yesterday.

Animal rights activists have launched a protest campaign and filed a criminal complaint against the city’s shelter after photos showing dogs chained under the snow were made public.

Şule Baylan, Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP) representative, responded to Yılmaz’s words. “The photographs speak instead of us. The mayor’s threats and revilements are not above the law,” said Baylan.

Laws require the municipality to release stray animals to where they were taken from after being neutered. Yılmaz said the municipality would not do that since “the streets belong to people, not to dogs.”
“If they [activists] love those dogs that much, let them each take one,” he said.