Turks showed most sensitivity to animal rights last year

ISTANBUL

With a total of 2.3 million signatures last year, animal rights were the subject that the Turkish society showed the most sensitivity to and took action last year on change.org, a website offering the public to submit petitions and collect signatures.

According to the change.org 2022 Türkiye Impact Report, 60 percent of the Turkish society considered that starting a campaign on the issues they care about can create change.

Four out of every 10 people stated that they can start a campaign to pave the way for change on an important issue by collecting a sufficient number of signatures in the future.

In the social change platform celebrating its 10th anniversary, the highest number of signatures was collected in the field of animal rights in the country.

The issue of stray animals was frequently one of the hot topics of discussion in the country last year, while the situation of animals in shelters and the increase in pet food prices were among the factors that led to the increase in signatures.

In particular, the “Can’t Kill” campaign, which was launched after a dog was killed by two shelter workers in an animal shelter in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, was the call that received the most response and reached the masses last year.

With the campaign, more than 250,000 people signed on to punish criminals and improve the conditions of animal shelters across the country.

Apart from the campaigns launched on the sensitivity towards animal rights, education was one of the issues on which the most campaigns were launched and signatures were collected in 2022.

While a total of 1,179 campaigns were launched, campaigns demanding equal educational conditions for disabled students attracted attention.

Approximately 465,000 people showed sensitivity on climate-related problems, while this rate increased significantly in 2022 and reached 719,100 signatures.

Of the 161 climate-related campaigns launched, nine were successful and the signatories achieved their intended result.

Animal rights became a hot topic of debate in the country after two people killed a dog by brutally hitting its head with a shovel at an animal rehabilitation center in Konya.

After the death of the dog, many people shared their photos with animals on social media in order to raise awareness against cruelty towards animals.

Together with the discussions on animal rights, efforts began for the constitutional guarantee of animal rights. The statement “animal rights” were added to the title “health services and environmental protection” in the constitution.