Chris Packham unleashes scathing attack on proposal to kill stray dogs

Chris Packham has slammed new legislation over concerns stray dogs could be killed.

The Springwatch host and conservationist, 63, has declared there is potential for an ‘absolute travesty’.

His comments come after Turkey looks set to pass a law aiming to regulate the country’s 4 million stray dogs.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintains the country has a stray dog ‘problem’ putting children, adults and elderly people, as well as other animals, at risk of ‘attack’.

He has also said stray dogs ‘attack flocks of sheep and goats and cause traffic accidents’.

The bill, which is expected to be voted on in the next few days, mandates that municipalities collect stray dogs and house them in shelters where they would be neutered and spayed.

Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill, pose a health risk to humans or are aggressive would be euthanised.

However, animal rights activists are concerned dogs could be killed on the pretext they are ill, rather than allocate resources to shelter them, or send them to neglected and overcrowded shelters, claims the government has denied.

But Chris has urged others to ‘take action’ and sign a petition urging the country ‘not to kill’ the animals.

Posting a video on X, in which he appeared alongside his poodle Nancy, Chris said: ‘I love my dogs. I love animals. I love all life. At the moment in Turkey, there is the potential for an absolute travesty when it comes to animal welfare.

‘Millions of cats and dogs could be unnecessarily murdered…so can Nancy and I please both ask you to take action?’

Chris then asked his followers to sign a petition, which currently has just under 5,000 signatories.

Other British stars have also weighed in on the bill, with Downton Abbey star Peter Egan called it an ‘urgent appeal for the whole world’.

The 77-year-old actor added: ‘We cannot allow this to happen… Stop this appalling crime happening.”

Meanwhile Heather Mills, 56, said the bill ‘must be stopped’.

The campaign against the bill is co-ordinated by the Animal Save Movement.

Under the legislation, mayors who fail to meet their responsibilities in controlling stray dogs would face imprisonment of six months to two years.

Fines on people who abandon pets would be raised from 2,000 lira (£47) to 60,000 lira (£1415).

The Turkish government has denied the bill would lead to culling stray dogs, with the country’s justice minister saying anyone who killed them ‘for no reason’ would be punished.

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