Owner seeks justice for dog electrocuted by faulty streetlight

Doğan Can Cesur – ISTANBUL

A dog owner has vowed to pursue legal action against those responsible after his dog was electrocuted due to a stray current leaking from a streetlight in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district on Feb. 22 morning.

Fatih Koldaş, who also suffered an electric shock, had taken his dog, Rose, for a morning walk along Vuleka Street with his wife when the dog suddenly yelped and jumped in distress. As Koldaş bent down to check on Rose, he too received an electric shock.

Realizing that the streetlight was emitting a live current, he quickly pulled his dog away by his sweater.

A taxi driver who witnessed the incident offered assistance, and Koldaş rushed Rose to a veterinarian. However, the dog has already stopped breathing on the way, and despite immediate intervention, Rose could not be saved.

Determined to prevent further harm, Koldaş returned to the scene to warn pedestrians and stayed until authorities arrived to fix the issue.

“While waiting at the clinic, I returned to the scene and started shouting to alert others. Nearly 20 people were warned before the teams arrived an hour later to fix the faulty streetlight,” he said.

The Koldaş family’s social media posts about the incident quickly went viral, triggering widespread outrage.

Kadıköy Municipality, in a statement to the daily Hürriyet, clarified that streetlights in the district fall under the jurisdiction of AYEDAŞ, the electricity distribution company. However, the incident has reignited discussions on infrastructure safety and municipal negligence.

Just last month, another similar accident occurred in Beşiktaş, where a woman’s dog was electrocuted during a walk. Though the woman sustained minor injuries, her dog convulsed on the pavement before being rushed to a veterinary clinic.