Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

A motorist has complained to cops after another driver offered to take an injured gazelle to the vets and then vanished with the animal which it is suspected of being eaten by the man.

The incident was reported by motorist Dogan Albayrak, who is an architect working in the district of Seferihisar in the western Turkish city of Izmir.

Newsflash spoke with the motorist who raised the alarm over the fate of the gazelle after he saw it being hit by a car as it tried to cross the road. He said he stopped to help the animal which was lying on the tarmac after the collision.

Dogan said: “The gazelle was slightly injured. The driver that hit it pulled up at the side of the road and I also stopped to help.

“The people in the car which crashed into it did not know what to do, and they called the police, but they were not confident that they were going to turn up to help the animal.”

He said he had called a friend who is the president of the local veterinary chamber, but at that point another man, identified only by his first name Murat, offered to take the gazelle to the vets.

Albayrak said: “I told him there were two veterinary clinics nearby in Camli District and they were the closest, but he said he knew somewhere better.

“Murat took the gazelle and went off in a white car. Those who caused the accident also helped him.

“Later I found Murat. I asked him where the gazelle was and what happened with the vets and he just told me that it sadly died.

“I asked him where he took the gazelle, but there wasn’t a dead gazelle at the place where he said the body was. There was nothing.”

Albayrak stated that he contacted the Nature Conservation and National Parks Directorate and that they told him they had investigated the incident and determined that the animal did not go to any vets in that area.

He said: “I don’t know what happened to the poor animal. As a resident, it was very interesting that there was a gazelle in the area, I have never seen one before, and now it’s gone.”

Albayrak added that he hopes the police finds out what happened to the animal and that Murat should be punished for his actions.

There is no further information on the status of the investigation and whether further action will be taken, but if found guilty of killing and cooking the animal, Murat will most likely face a fine.

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