Turkey fined animal abusers 1.2 million liras in 2015: Ministry

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

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The Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP) issued fines amounting to a total of 1.25 million Turkish Liras over the violation of animal rights in 2015, Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu said in a written statement on Feb. 10.

Acting under the 5199 Animal Protection Code, Eroğlu also said changes are required to formally give the punished acts criminal status. 

“We did some work on this issue in previous years. The law passed from the commission and was due to be discussed in parliament. But due to the country’s busy agenda and the election period, the law did not pass,” he said, stressing that the issue was definitely on the agenda of the 64th government.

“According the government’s program, a regulation concerning animal rights is to be made in one year. With this new regulation, the rights of animals, especially the ones living in cities, will be protected legally and executive measures will be enhanced,” Eroğlu said.  

He also added that “studies are continuing” to address the issue of protecting street animals. 

“As part of the project, in order to register and monitor animals, we are distributing microchips, microchip readers, injectors and ear tags to animal shelters for free. Under the 5199 Animal Protection Code we opened an e-mail account to accelerate this work and to help avert violations. People can announce animal rights violations via the address hayvanhaklari@ormansu.gov.tr,” Eroğlu stated.