Improving Urban Animal Welfare Through Evidence-Based Shelter Site Selection in Turkey

The management of stray animals and the selection of shelter sites are significant issues in urban areas. To address this, consideration of environmental, social, and economic factors is required. Since those factors can be analyzed holistically with GIS; this study employs GIS methodologies to ascertain the optimal locations for establishing animal shelters in the Karşıyaka district of İzmir. Criteria related to factors such as human health and animal welfare are determined based on environmental sustainability. Each criterion is converted into a suitability map using ArcGIS Pro. Fuzzy SWARA and Fuzzy GRA methods are used for criteria weighting and area ranking. As a result, the "Yamanlar" option was determined as the most suitable area. Thus, GIS-based integrated fuzzy-based methods have shown objective, reliable and less uncertain results in area selection. Findings provide guidance for local governments and policy makers in determining and prioritizing criteria to be considered in the shelter area selection. The methodological approach proposed can be applied to different regions and similar problems, and it can contribute to the development of efficient and humane policies to improve animal welfare.