Feline ‘sausage thief’ punished with cage

ISTANBUL

In the western province of Muğla’s Bodrum’s district, a stray cat, which was claimed to have stolen sausage from a grocery store chain, was put in a cage by the store’s officials. 

By claim, the incident took place in an Ortakent Kipa store. The cat in the cage was put in the backyard of the store and a message was written on the cage, which read, “Cameras watch, do not touch it.” 

Some locals reacted to this cruelness by informing the Bodrum Animal Rights Association President Füsun Uslu. Three members of the association rescued the cat after it had been in the cage for 48 hours. 

“This is how a big grocery store chain punishes a cat. What can we say?” Uslu said on her Facebook account. 

“We could not believe it when we saw the photos that were sent to us. Then we sent our members to the store and rescued the cat. What the grocery store chain has done is unacceptable. They punished the animal in the iron cage for ‘stealing’ a sausage,” she added. 

In a statement, store manager Sebil Ertürk said they had been misunderstood following the reactions on social media. She said their aim had been to punish the cat. 

“This cat was used to coming to our store. It comes inside the store somehow and steals sausages. We have previously caught it stealing the products in the deli section and had released it to nature in Ortakentyahşi and Turgutreis. But it came back over and over again,” said Ertürk. 

“We are a store that loves animals. We did not do it to punish the cat but to make it stay away from the store. Otherwise, it would have been a violation of food regulations. We are working with associations for stray animals and do our best for them. There is a misunderstanding,” she said.