May 8, 2018 - Thanks to social network and the Animal Protection Association "Animal Friends of Bar", the case of a severely injured puppy in Zupce, in the hinterland of Bar, gets its epilogue.
A puppy named Beban, aged about five months, was severely injured during a shooting that took place in the early morning hours of March 21 in the vicinity of the General Secretary of the Kennel Club Montenegro, Miodrag Vreteničić.
As we heard, the shooting happened because Vreteničić wanted to defend the sheep from a dog attack, owned by his neighbor Darko Vuković. Volunteers from the "Animal Friends of Bar" found a wounded puppy after his owner, Vuković, told him where he was thrown into a sack. The founder of the Association, Milena Zoranovic, said that she was first given an anonymous report with a picture of a small dog that was all bloody:
"The situation was particular, I heard that the dog was taken to a dump to be dropped into a container. To me, it was an alarm to engage my volunteers. Fortunately, I managed to find out where the puppy was and from that moment on Danijela Kralj went to the cliff where the puppy was thrown out of that bag and left to die. No one would ever find him if we did not go and he would die a terrible death. I had unofficial information so I could not report it to the police, but now I see that people who know something else on the same social networks have reported the incident. The reports mention the name Miodrag Vretenicic from the Kennel Club as the one who shot the dog, and later it turned out that it was the owner himself who brought us where he left his dog. There is also a vet in that chain, who was visited by the owner. These are unofficial facts to me, and this mosaic has to be resolved by placing the proper services in charge, because it cannot be as simple as coming to guns or making it so easy for the owner to be the master of somebody's life or to make the veterinarian's decisions, if he suggested what we have heard he did.
I appeal to all competent authorities to get involved and get a real idea of what happened”. The Association’s members and volunteers took the puppy to the veterinary ambulance in Bar, where he was given adequate care. The entire story was denied by Miodrag Vreteničić, who told us that this is a misinterpretation:
"This happened on Wednesday early in the morning when I heard the dog’s barking, and near the house, I kept the sheep and heard sheep being slaughtered so then I came out of the house and saw three dogs attacking the sheep. Since I could not get in, I took a small shotgun to scare them, and I shot at the stone, and this unlucky puppy was next to the stone, and the crash struck him. The puppy ran away, and I immediately called the owner and told him to take the puppy to a veterinarian and also that I would pay for all treatment expenses. After that, I saw the posts on social networks and the Animal Protection Association of Bar. I explained to them what happened and told them that I would pay the costs of treating the dog. I am a dog breeder, and so far I have over 500 puppies, and I would never kill a puppy, so I'm not crazy to shoot a puppy that is just a few months old. This is just one misinterpretation, and sadly there was an unfortunate case,” Vreteničić said and added that he did not have good relations with the neighbor, Darko Vuković, because his neighbor’s dogs attacked his lamb.
He said he had fired from a small shotgun, intended for quail, which cannot kill a dog, just frighten them. Vreteničić said he was in contact with the vet and the Association that saved the puppy, and repeated that he would take all the costs. He claims it was an unfortunate case that was abused. Asked how many shots from the rifle were possible to reject the stone and hit the puppy, Vreteničić did not have a comment but said that the dog ran away, meaning that his muscles were in use.
Veterinarian Goran Medojević denied allegations that he had persuaded the owner to get rid of the dog, saying that it was only true that he counseled Vuković not to file a lawsuit because of good-neighborly relations: "I did not try to cover myself, I just told him not to argue with his neighbors because he will deepen the trouble. He held it in his trunk and did not even point it out. When I told him to handle the wounds, in the meantime, he saw a neighbour of the man who shot him, and he was scared, shut up and left. What's going on, I have no idea. That's the only truth I stood behind and told the veterinary inspector,” concluded Medojević.
The Association members said the dog owner did not want his name to be mentioned and that if the indictment came up, he would not testify. Three legs were injured on the puppy, which was full of small bullets. The bones in his right leg were crushed and the circulation in them slowed down. The dog is under strong antibiotics to prevent infections, according to the members from the association "Animal Friends of Bar".
Milena Zoranović pointed out that Beban went on to further treatment in Slovenia: "Very complicated and demanding surgeries were performed at a clinic in Postojna. Beban’s right paw was amputated and also one large part of the left anterior, which means that his rehabilitation will take a long time. It will be necessary to make prostheses. He was a great fighter and quickly began to resist on his feet. I must express my enormous gratitude to friends in Croatia and Slovenia who have done supernumerary efforts to organize the whole story. His story is not over yet, and it will take time, but also significant material resources to keep him alive. Only the operation in Postojina and his stay there cost nearly 2,000 euro. We also launched a petition against abused animals signed by 150,000 people. The case against M.V. and D.V. was formed in the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bar, because of the crime of killing and torturing animals and destroying their habitat. I recently visited the prosecution to ask where the case came and received a legal formulation that the case is still in the reconnaissance phase. I sincerely hope and urge that this period of surveillance does not last very long because people want to hear what the institutions have done about this issue. I have to say that this is not an ordinary citizen who has done this, it is still a public figure, a man who is a kennel judge and, therefore, this case is even more difficult. I think we need to send an adequate message, so this never happens again, and also send messages to owners that pets are not toys, but beings that live with families and who depend on you and your desire to give them a good life. Although Vreteničić said that he would bear the costs of treatment, he never contacted us. I do not have any official confirmation that he will pay his recovery.
Thanks to the donations, this debt of nearly 2,000 euro is almost gone, but there is another problematic phase, which includes a prosthesis. Andreja Bogataj, who is taking care of him, will take him to Trieste, where the prosthetist from a clinic will help Beban. Local veterinarians thought it was best to euthanize it, but we did not allow it, and we decided to try - in addition to all negative prognoses to save his life, we succeeded!
The story of Beban continued last weekend when a dog show was held in Bar, organized by the Kennel Club of Montenegro, at which Miodrag Vretenicic was a judge. To remind the audience of Beban’s case, several women from the Association visited the exhibition. What happened to them was not pleasant at all as was told to us by Maja Racic, one of the volunteers in the Association "Friends of Animals Bar", which took Beban to Slovenia at its own expense - and this journey took 18 hours: "We came to the second day of the exhibition and proudly carried flyers with Beban, who was injured by Miodrag Vreteničić. Before that, we were well consulted because we did not want to violate the law. The flyers showed only his picture with the inscription "Who is the kennel judge who shot Beban?" Without any name and insult. There was no trouble when we shared the flyers until one guy noticed us. He began to insult me, to tell me to move, that I was a non-working woman without a family, which I did not care about. We came in Beban's name who is a dog from our city, and it would be a sin if he would have not been brought up in some way at the exhibition because he really deserves it. For us, he is the winner in all categories. Even Vreteničić insulted me. Why we were disturbing them is not clear to us. At one point, I felt threatened and called the police, who immediately came. I am a graduate defectologist, a single mother of two children and I am a great animal lover. Because of insults and harassment by this guy, I hired a lawyer and reported the case to the police. In addition to everything, I'm glad we got the attention and achieved that Beban would not be forgotten. I hope that finally, in Montenegro, a law for animals will be adopted that will protect them from harassment and killing,” concluded Maja Račić.
