Child attacked by dog

[KAPSA Kalkan]

The information below is the answer given by KAPSA in response to a post about a little boy that was bitten by a dog in Kalkan. The entire thread was later removed by the the original author. However, EK obviously thought the information given here was important enough to repost.

Hi all, I would like to tell you the facts about the little boy that was bitten. It was a very unfortunate incident which naturally upset the boy and his family and everyone that witnessed it or was otherwise involved. It happened one evening last week near Salt and Pepper. The boy and his family were walking up the steps from the harbour and a dog was lying down near the top of the steps and the little boy went over to stroke him. The dog lunged at the little boy and bit him quite badly on the arm. Waiters from Salt and pepper and staff from the jean store opposite rushed to his aid and drove the dog off. A doctor was called and the little boy received medical treatment.
This dog is an owned dog which has been reported to have bitten people before. We have informed the Belediye before that this dog is aggressive and unpredictable and as far as we know the owner was told to keep him restrained on several occasions.
As soon as we at Kapsa heard about the incident we went down to find out what had happened. The boy and his family were not there as they had been taken to Kas for treatment. Everyone involved recognised the dog and were able to identify him. We called the Belediye and reported which dog it was but by this time the dog was no longer around. The next morning we took a dilekce (official letter) to the mayor asking his permission to have the dog put to sleep and his permission was given. (we do not have the authority to put an owned animal to sleep) Then with personel from the Belediye and the local vet we went to find the dog. He was in his usual place on the Kalamar rd  but his owner could not be found. We had planned to sedate him and then take him to the clinic to be euthanised but before we could do this another person from the council informed us that after any serious dog bite the dog must be quarantined or at least kept in a secure place for 10 days so that rabies can be ruled out. Apparently, if the the dog were to have rabies it would die within 10 days. If this is not done then the person bitten would have to endure a lengthy course of rabies vaccinations just in case. We were able to find the boys family and explained this to them and they agreed that it would be better if their child did not have to go through such a course of injections. They are a lovely family and all keen animal lovers so this had been a terrible shock to them. The dog was taken away that day and will remain restrained in a place outside Kalkan for 10 days after  which it will be examined by a vet. After that we will email the family to let them know the result of the examination. The people that look after the dog in its owners absense have said that they will keep it tethered as a guard dog at their workshop in another village. Whatever happens though the dog will not be returning to Kalkan and will be unable to bite anyone else.

Re the incident in the old town with another owned dog, we are aware of that dog being a nuisance, it is also prticularly noisy at night and we have spoken to both the owne and the Belediye about it.

As for the incident near Kalamaki-if anyone has a bit more solid information about this we will be happy to look into it, to my knowledge it has not been reported to anyone at Kapsa.

Finally, I would just like to say that we are urging the Belediye to get tougher with dog owners as we do not have any jurisdiction in that area. As far as a dogs home is concerned, the new regulations re animal rights and street animal management state that every Belediye should provide a TEMPORARY Shelter in which abandoned puppies, sick animals or those that cannot survive on the streets can be kept until such time that they can be homed or rehabilitated. It would also be ideal for animals such as the one that bit the little boy as it would allow the vet/ Belediye to moniter it closely for 10 days. This shelter should not be thought of as a pound where all street dogs can be taken and left as this would be financially unviable and would encourage people from miles around to dump all their unwanted dogs there (this is what is already happening in Kas) It would also leave the streets of Kalkan open for new dogs to move into from surrounding areas. and then the whole process would have to start again and very soon the shelter would have hundreds of dogs in it and would be quite unmanagable.
I am happy to let you know the outcome of the incident with the little boy as soon as we have news and have informed his parents. 


Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=9627.0

[KAPSA Kalkan]

Update about the little boy that was bitten and the dog that bit him.

On the tenth day after the child was bitten we at Kapsa contacted the people that had arranged to have the dog taken away and kept in a secure place. We reminded them that a vet would need to examine the dog that day and write a report on their findings. This was arranged and we are pleased to say that the vet could find nothing physically wrong with the dog, certainly no symptoms that could suggest Rabies.
We emailed the family concerned (they had returned to the UK a week earlier) and informed them of the vets findings. We have also sent them a copy of the report and a copy will also be sent to Kalkan Belediye.

The boy is apparently much recovered from his ordeal, infact according to his mother with whom we spoke last week, he was proudly showing his war wounds off to his friends when he got back to England.

The dog is to remain at the work shop in a village outside Kalkan where he will be kept as a guard dog.