PART TWO
Precautionary Measures
CHAPTER ONE
Ownership, care and welfare of animals
Ownership and care of animals
ARTICLE 5 – A person who participates in a general training program regarding the care of animals and who takes ownership of or looks after an animal is liable for sheltering the animal, meeting their ethological needs in accordance with their species and reproductive methods, taking care of their health and taking all necessary precautions with regard to the health and safety of people, animals and the environment.
Animal owners are obliged to take precautionary measures with regard to environmental pollution caused by their animals or danger and disturbance to other people. They must compensate for any damage caused by their failure to take timely and sufficient precautions.
Those who sell domestic animals and pets are obliged to take part in certified training programmes arranged by the local authorities in relation to the care and protection of these animals.
The conditions for owning and keeping domestic pets or controlled animals, the principles and procedures relating to training to be given in animal welfare and the preventative measures against damage and disturbance caused by domestic animals will be determined in a regulation to be issued by the Ministry in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, having obtained the opinion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and related organisations.
Unless there is a commercial purpose, a domestic pet being cared for within a house or garden cannot be sequestered due to the debts of their owner.
Those who produce and trade in domestic pets are obliged to take precautions in relation to necessary anatomic, physiological and behavioural characteristics in order not to endanger the health of pet owners, the mother selected for reproduction or her young.
Domestic pets and controlled animals which will not be able to re-establish harmony with their natural environment cannot be abandoned, and cannot be left where they will be unable to feed or adapt to the climate. However, they can be reclaimed or handed over to an animal shelter.
Protection of ownerless and incapacitated animals
ARTICLE 6 – It is forbidden to kill ownerless or incapacitated animals, apart from the situations set forth in the Animal Health Police Law no. 3285.
Incapacitated animals will not be used for any commercial or performance purposes or used for riding or transporting purposes in any manner.
Within the framework of the legislative provisions in effect regarding the protection, care and supervision of ownerless animals, the arrangements relating to the authority and responsibility of local authorities and measures aimed at eliminating any negative effects on the environment that could occur will be determined in a regulation to be issued by the Ministry in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, having obtained the opinion of related organisations.
Ownerless and incapacitated animals must be brought as quickly as possible to animal shelters established or permitted by the local authorities. These animals will first be held in the observation areas established in these centres. It is a principle that animals that have been sterilised, vaccinated and rehabilitated will be registered and released into the environment that they were taken from.
The rounding up of ownerless or incapacitated animals and the operating principles and procedures for animal shelters will be determined in a regulation to be issued by the Ministry, having obtained the opinion of related bodies and organisations. Land owned by the Treasury can be allocated with priority to animal shelters and hospitals. The allocation of land that is found to be used for other purposes will be cancelled.
Land, related buildings and stock may be allocated by municipalities, forestry administrations, the Ministry of Finance or the Privatisation Administration to natural persons and legal entities which meet the conditions set forth in this Law and which look after or wish to look after incapacitated or ownerless animals provided that there is no gain or benefit but rather that they are acting from humanitarian and conscientious goals, and also provided that ownership remains with the state. Suitable facilities can be built on the allocated land with the permission of the related Ministry/Administration.
CHAPTER TWO
Interventions in animals
Surgical Interventions
ARTICLE 7 – Medical and surgical interventions in animals will only be carried out by veterinary doctors.
In order to prevent uncontrolled reproduction, sterilisation interventions will be done without causing the animals pain.
Forbidden Interventions
ARTICLE 8 – All types of interventions that will wipe out a species of animal are forbidden.
It is forbidden to removed or destroy all or a part of the organs or tissues of an animal as long as they are alive, unless it is for medical reasons.
It is forbidden to undertake surgical interventions aimed at altering the external appearance of domestic pets or other non-medical treatments such as cutting tails and ears, removing vocal cords and removing nails or teeth. However permission may be granted for these forbidden interventions where a veterinary doctor deems it necessary to make a non-medical intervention for medical reasons related to veterinary procedures or for the good of a particular animal or in order to prevent reproduction.
It is forbidden to give an animal hormones or drugs in a manner or dose that will change the nature of his species or ethology, unless it is for medical purposes, to drug an animal with various substances or to artificially alter the behavioural or physical characteristics specific to an animal species.
Animal Testing
ARTICLE 9 – Animals cannot be used for non-scientific diagnosis, treatment or experiments.
It is a principle that only medical and scientific experiments can be carried out, these will be performed in such a manner as to protect the animals and the animals to be used in these experiments will be cared for and sheltered in a suitable manner.
Where there is no other option, animals can be used for testing in scientific studies.
In organisations and institutions which will carry out animal testing, they will be permitted to do so by ethical committees established or to be established by them.
The establishment of these ethic committees and their operating principles and procedures will be determined in a regulation to be issued by the Ministry having obtained the opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Health and related organisations.
The breeding, feeding, shelter and care of test animals, the registration of enterprises who supply and use these, the qualities of the personnel employed, the records to be kept, which kinds of animals can be bred and the principles to be met by operations feeding, supplying and using test animals will be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
