This day of mine...

... was from hell and I did not want to have this on my timeline. Ever.

But this is returning reality in this EU candidate country. So whoever can change these circumstances - please help do so. And if you cannot read this story, then stop here. There is a semi-happy end though.

Woke up in the morning at 05:30 to the endless screaming of an animal. A horse. Not mine, but that old mare Milka - ill, lame, thin, full of worms probably, with a skin disease, scars... fully neglected. She has an "owner".

Milka has been left on the fields for years, in every weather condition imaginable - all year through, without food in winter, stable, care... - and spent the last two years like that outdoors, with a gelding (her former mare friend was found dead on a field) - and now a stallion, who started raping her several times a day.

Last night must have happened something bad - so that she had fallen of weakness... into a bad place and could not stand up. In the morning fog, I went after her screaming and found her on the field next to mine, half in a hole. Called the vet I know - sorry for waking anyone up at 06:00; he advised me to call the owner because he couldn′t do anything without that order - of course, I then called the so-called owner - who would not take any care or responsibility. Then I looked up the website of the municipality of ?avnik, to find out the number of the local police for help. Wrong/old number there. What else?

I called 122 to find out the number. They didn′t know it either (what?). So I called a lady in the municipality who is always helpful - at 08:00. Sitting by the mare for two hours now, soothing her and keeping the stallion at bay.

Then more calls in the order of vet-police-another vet in Nik?i? (Dr. med vet Aleksandra Sa?ka Krivokapi? - hvala!) - and another friend who might have faster access to the veterinary inspection - to make the vet confident and legally safe to come and treat the mare with whatever she might need incl. euthanasia. In the meantime, I had to leave for a 3-hour online meeting that was impossible to postpone. Thank you, dear colleagues of VDR - Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V. , Sandra Jahn, Sandra Waldinger for understanding my pushing our agenda and exceptionally taking a vet phone call in the middle of our meeting.

Went back to see if the mare was alive. Yes, she was - and I learnt then that there are no inspectors anymore nearby - all in Podgorica - and also there, way too few! Because? Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, ?umarstva i vodoprivrede and the Ministry of Finance don′t employ enough of them. Currently 14 for the surface of 13.883 km2 - makes 991 km2 for one to cover - plus the borders. Impossible. But the country is dreaming of "elite turizam" and whatnot.

I can tell that the guests of this village - and any normal person, anywhere - hate to see these things happen all over Montenegro. (Add: 6-week-old puppies thrown in and under garbage collectors or at night onto restaurant terraces every summer.)

Called Darko Saveljic - and he helped fast & furious to Milan Rogo?i? - I should have written an e-mail first, but thanks to Milan that paperwork was not needed! He, in his role as Advisor for Animal Health in the Veterinary Administration (savjetnik za zdravlje zivotinja u Upravi za veterinu), helped to get Dr. med. vet Terzic from Zabljak convinced of the need and urgency to come and treat the mare. In the meanwhile her body and head were full of flies, and she had not been able to drink or eat - I helped her with antifly spray lotion and water straight into her mouth - she could not drink.

The vet came and gave her medicine. It wasn't a colic. We pulled her with a rope around her legs, the two of us, from that hole. I led her to a field further away, without holes, and called the owner of the stallion - he must immediately separate the animals to keep the mare safe. He would do that tonight. We′ll see. I hope he does.

Milka is still old, ill, lame, thin, full of worms probably, with a skin disease, scars... fully neglected. Thank you Milan Rogo?i?, if you can follow up on this and those other cases that are unsolved.

And in the meantime? Nothing from the "owner" but threatening words in the morning on the phone, for me to stay out. Sorry, but I could not.

#AnecdotesFromAbsurdistan #Montenegro #animalprotection #animalwelfare #EU #ruraldevelopment