Pit bulls brutally attack 4-year-old girl

GAZİANTEP

In a horrifying incident, a 4-year-old girl sustained severe injuries when two pit bulls mauled her in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, and three arrests have been made so far following the case.

The arrests were made on Dec. 24, two days after the dreadful incident.

According to police reports, two pit bulls savaged Asiye Ateş from the neck and the head when the little girl was playing in a building complex in the province’s Şahinbey district.

“I heard the screams of the girl and hit the noses of the dogs to free her,” Celal Aslan, a neighbor who saved the girl’s life, told the Demirören News Agency on Dec. 23.

The girl was hospitalized with severe injuries on her brain tissue, face, ears and neck.

“She has some fractures in her cranium. She will stay in the intensive care unit for three or four more days,” a doctor said.

Police identified the two owners of the dogs living in the building complex and detained six people in total involved in the attack. After hours of interrogation, three were arrested in the early hours of Dec. 24.

The unidentified owners were also fined 30,000 Turkish Liras ($2,535).

“The case is not only Asiye’s but Turkey’s matter. A law was passed in the parliament to protect animals. But these dogs, such as pit bulls, pose grave danger,” Gaziantep Mayor Fatma Şahin said after a visit to the girl’s family in the hospital.

“The site manager feeds the pit bulls inside the building complex where some 400 people live. This is legally a crime,” she added.

According to a law entered into force in 2004, “generating, importing, selling and promoting dangerous species such as pitbull terriers or Japanese Tosa dogs” is strictly forbidden. Those who disobey the rule get a monetary penalty determined every year.