Puppy in critical condition after armed attack in Turkey’s southeast

MARDİN

A puppy has been flown from southeastern Turkey to Istanbul for an emergency medical operation after it was assaulted with a shot gun, in the latest incident in which a stray animal is targeted. 

The puppy was shot in the southeastern province of Mardin’s Mazıdağı district on June 29 by unidentified assailants, according to daily Habertürk.

Passersby found the two-month-old dog in the street in critical condition with its legs wounded by shot gun pellets.

A suspect was detained on July 2, after the dog was taken to Mardin Metropolitan Municipality Animal Rehabilitation Center.

After the first aid, it was transported to Istanbul on an aircraft, as it needed a critical medical operation at a fully-equipped hospital.

Veysel Öğdür, an expert at the center in Mardin, said the puppy was crying in pain.

“We have named him Kuzey [North]. Unfortunately, he has too many infections in his body. He might lose his legs,” Öğdür added.

On June 13, another puppy was found by passersby in a wooded area in the Sapanca district of the western province of Sakarya.

Locals hospitalized the dog, which succumbed to its injuries two days later, despite an emergency operation in Istanbul in which four of its feet had been cut off.

After public outrage over the puppy’s horrific torture, the government had announced that the first job of the new parliament after the June 24 elections would be debating a new ministerial bill that includes more severe punishments in cases of violence against stray animals.