A video shared widely across Turkish social media this week showed a market employee calling a cat toward her before spraying a chemical degreaser directly into the animal’s face. According to reports, the woman repeatedly called to the cat:
“Gel annem gel.”
(“Come here my baby.”)
Then, when the cat trusted her enough to approach, she sprayed the chemical into its face. As the terrified animal fled beneath a car, the spraying reportedly continued while another woman laughed and filmed the scene.
The woman was later detained and the cat was reportedly examined by veterinarians, who stated that no lasting eye damage had been found. The cat has since reportedly been adopted by a member of the public.
But what disturbed so many people was not only the cruelty itself.
It was the betrayal.
The Weaponisation Of Trust
Street animals survive partly through their ability to read human behaviour.
A soft voice, a crouched posture, a familiar tone, a hand offering food.
These are survival signals.
The cat approached because it believed it was being called with affection. That is what makes the footage psychologically difficult to comprehend.
Cruelty Performed As Entertainment
Equally disturbing was the social dynamic surrounding the incident. The footage was reportedly filmed while another person laughed and recorded events on a phone.
That matters. Because modern cruelty increasingly performs itself for an audience.
Phones have altered human behaviour in profound ways. Recording creates distance. Suffering becomes content. Shock becomes social currency. Humiliation becomes performance.
The existence of a camera can sometimes transform private cruelty into public theatre. And once that happens, empathy begins to erode very quickly.
The Contradiction At The Centre Of Society
There is another uncomfortable aspect to this story. The woman reportedly used maternal language toward the cat moments before harming it. “Gel annem gel.”
This is part of the contradiction increasingly visible within modern society’s relationship with animals. The language of care exists alongside acts of startling emotional detachment.
People speak lovingly to animals while simultaneously treating them as disposable.
Compassion and cruelty exist side by side. Affection becomes performative rather than moral.
That contradiction is becoming more visible online because phones now capture moments that previously disappeared unseen.
Some people dismiss incidents like this as isolated acts by disturbed individuals. But public reactions matter because they reveal something about the wider emotional climate surrounding animals. A society does not become more compassionate simply because people say they love animals.
Compassion is measured in restraint, in empathy in how vulnerable beings are treated when nobody gains anything from protecting them.
What shocked people about this case was not only that a cat was harmed. It was that the harm began with an invitation to trust.
We have been told that the cat received immediate veterinary care & thankfully has no lasting damage from the heartless incident. A kind member of the public came forward & has adopted him.
A public statement has been issued by the store stating that both women involved in the sadistic cruelty have been fired.