An animal lover from the southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa stole 35 dogs diagnosed with rabies from a shelter and transported them to the Turkish capital, Ankara.
On social networks, the woman said that she took the dogs out because they were supposedly in poor condition at the kennel:
“We have already collected 35 dogs, loaded them into our car and we will take them all to Ankara. They are sick, so we will take them to the clinic for treatment and sterilize them. And I personally am heading to another province. I won’t say exactly where, so they don’t wait for us there,” he said via video conference while driving a car.
Earlier, in Sanliurfa, a dog bit a passer-by and was found to be rabid. Municipal authorities declared a quarantine in two city blocks.
The Ankara governor’s administration, for its part, stated that it was “determined to resolutely protect the lives and health of our citizens.” “Upon receiving reports that there were dogs diagnosed with rabies in our province, we put all authorities, including the police and relevant ministries, on high alert,” the department said in a statement.
These efforts were not in vain. All the dogs that ended up in Ankara have been identified and are now at the veterinary clinic. As for the woman who brought them, she was also found and detained. “At the request of the prosecutor’s office, investigative actions have been initiated against the woman who illegally transported sick animals to the capital,” the Ankara governor’s office reported.
