A pack of dogs were found fighting for their lives in an empty lot in the western province of Manisa early Tuesday. The poisoned animals were taken to an animal hospital. Gendarmerie officers and vets called to the scene in Salihli district by locals, discovered 13 dead dogs while nine others who passed out were taken to the hospital where four succumbed to the poisoning. Others are still being treated at the municipality's animal hospital.
Birol Avcı, head of Salihli municipality's veterinary department, said they rushed to the scene but found some of the animals had already died of poisoning but they were able to put the others through "an intense treatment process." Gendarmerie forces launched an investigation to find the perpetrator or perpetrators who fed the animals poison.
Poisoning of stray animals is commonplace in Turkey with dogs being particular targets. In most cases, perpetrators are people disturbed by the barking of dogs or their attacks on their livestock or other animals. In the past, they mostly got away with the poisonings but a new law adopted last year brings heftier fines, and in more severe cases like mass killings, prison terms.
Stray dogs, a staple of daily life all across the country, also face more opposition nowadays, due to their attacks, which most recently caused the death of a young girl who was ran over by a car as she was fleeing a violent pack of dogs in southern Turkey. Following the attacks, social media was awash with messages calling authorities to take strict measures against aggressive dogs, from their sterilization and collection from streets to be taken to animal shelters permanently, to messages calling for mass killings.
