Animal activists protest man captured by video while beating stray dog to death

ESKİŞEHİR

The incident, captured on video, raised massive outrage as it clearly showed the dog did not attack the man, identified only as H.A., and was calmly lying on the ground when it was beaten.

Locals in Eskişehir gathered on Aug. 6 to protest a man who beat a stray dog to death last weekend The incident, captured on video, raised massive outrage as it clearly showed the dog did not attack the man, identified only as H.A., and was calmly lying on the ground when it was beaten.

Activists have also called to strengthen laws against violent acts on animals. “In our current judicial system, there are unfortunately no strict measures on people who torture animals and these actions are not even registered in the offender’s criminal record,” said Mustafa Çakır, a lawyer and member of the Eskişehir Bar Association.

Çakır said the law only protects animals if they are owned by a person. “In short, our judicial system supports people’s property rights, not the animal’s right to live,” Çakır said.

Locals said the dog was marked with a distinctive tag showing it was castrated and vaccinated by the municipality. They added that the dog lived in the same street for many years causing no trouble, calling to punish the offender.

But a new law submitted in June to the Turkish Parliament suggests increasing penalties for those who abuse animals, including giving jail time.

If the draft is approved, leaving animals hungry, thirsty, beating them, exposing them to cruelty, keeping them under extreme cold or heat conditions and abusing them physically or psychologically will result in sentences between four months and three years.