Unlucky shot or attempt to murder puppy?
The General Secretary of the Kennel Club of Montenegro is heavily under fire on Facebook because the man would have shot a puppy.
According to the group "Stray aid Montenegro", Miodrag Vreteničić would have shot at the puppy after seeing the animal with his sheep, and then throwing the injured animal off a cliff. Then the man would have instructed the veterinarian who had instructed the puppy, where the owner of the young animal had gone, to put the animal to sleep.
An animal protection organization got air from the story, and - according to their own statements - saved the pup. The little animal, called Beban, would now fight for his life. The group itself does not publish names of the shooter and the vet, because they do not want to get in the way of persecution. Witnesses would also be scared of members of the Kennel Club of Montenegro, because they have threatened people who have criticized earlier.
The gunman, Miodrag Vreteničić, reacted fiercely on Facebook. In his statement he says that it was three large dogs, and that he wanted to scare them with a shot of hail. However, the puppy was accidentally hit by a lot of rubbish in the field. "The last 10 days on facebook spread an incredible lie about the so-called monster that I am, who shot on a puppy that would have attacked my sheep. I want to introduce you to the only real version of this event. Namely on Wednesday, March 21, around 6.30 am I heard a big dog barking and saw through the window that my flock of sheep in the closed part of my field was attacked. I thought it was the wild animals of the jackals and I took a shotgun that I had permission for and was on my way to the estate. On a part of the estate, three dogs attacked a lamb that did not show signs of resistance. To drive the dogs away, I shot at a pile of stones. To my great sorrow at the rocks there was a puppy that I could not see and a few hail pellets hit him. "
The puppy ran away according to the shooter, and seemed to have little pain. Then he asked his neighbor to fix the dogs better. He would also have seen how the owner put the puppy in a jute bag and threw it off the cliff, where the animal activists found the animal later.
Vreteničić also reports that he has called animal rights activist Snezana Simic and has offered to reimburse all medical costs. "I would like to mention again the great regret of this event and that I did not intend to shoot a puppy, but only to intimidate dogs who have slaughtered the lamb and attacked my flock."
Animal rights activist Snezana Simic has responded (on 1 April) to questions from Dogzine and confirms Vreteničić's lecture. The animal aid organization was informed that a puppy had been thrown into a waste bin. Shortly afterwards a message from a very likely false account on Facebook called "Bob Liles" appeared that Vreteniči was the perpetrator of the shooting, but also that the owner of the puppy had thrown the dog in a bag off the cliff. Simic called Vreteniči and asked about the facts, on which Vreteniči acknowledged that he had accidentally touched the puppy. "He replied that he had no intention whatsoever to shoot the puppy." He had shot in the air to chase away three dogs from his neighbor, Darko Vucovic. Vukovic has at least 12 dogs that break loose through the neighborhood and have attacked sheep and goats more often. After complaints from neighbors the dogs are tied up for a while, but a few days later they walk away again. Shortly afterwards a message from "Bob Liles" appeared, in which Vreteniči was accused of throwing the pup from the cliff, no mention was made about Vucovic who would have done this himself. Simic therefore expects that it is a deliberate action to discredit Vreteniči. "My personal opinion is that somebody wants to exploit this unfortunate incident to launch media smear campaing against Mr. Vretenicic."
Vretenicic has informed Dogzine that the puppy is now staying in a clinic in Slovenia, and that things are going better with him. The video below shows the puppy a few days ago.
The kennel club of Montenegro and the FCI did not yet mention the incident. This article will be updated if we know more.