Residents of several villages from Banjani, Trubjela, Trepače, Rudina, Kamensko, Brestica, as well as from Župa in Nikšić, as well as from Danilovgrad, gathered in front of the "Dr Zoran Kesler" Hunting Lodge in Nikšić in protest and support for the hunters who, upon their call for help, shot a bear in the village of Kamensko, which, as they claim, has destroyed more than a hundred heads of livestock from the area in the past few years.
As they pointed out, it is truly fortunate that none of the residents of that area were injured.
The four hunters from Nikšić are charged with committing the criminal offense of illegal hunting and the criminal offense of unauthorized possession and carrying of weapons and explosives, while a criminal complaint has been filed against the fifth on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of unauthorized possession and carrying of weapons and explosives.
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Stanko Perović, a cattle farmer from the village of Kamensko, has had a bear destroy his livestock for years, and, as he pointed out, instead of protecting it, the government is arresting the people who saved him and other villagers from the "pest."
"Because I said I would kill a bear, I was sentenced to three months in prison in the Spučka casemates. They searched my house and found a hundred-year-old rifle, which is a trophy rifle, which in 1941 started an uprising in Trubjelo. I believe that Montenegro is a happy country, and if it is a happy country, I don't know the name of the Minister of Agriculture, so tell him to work for these people to be freed. If he doesn't want to, let him milk the bear and the she-wolf, not the cows. In Sweden, which is part of the European Union, they shot 30 bears, and here they won't, but they protect it and arrest these honest people," said Perović.
Zdravko Delibašić, also from Kamensko, said that a bear killed five cows in five months. He said that it seems to him that those who protect bears, and not livestock and people, do not know what kind of animal they are.
"That's a big danger, a big beast. I suggest we give up these bonuses that they give annually in favor of people who would go on such adventures. I wouldn't tell anyone to go on such adventures, because that's a big danger," said Delibašić.
Mileva Jovanović, the famous Gara who defended Sinjajevina, said that the state should pay people for the damage the bear caused them.
"Animals are not kept in a barn. We live off the pastures where our animals graze, which are an income, not only for our families, but for the entire country. And as for these guys who shot this bear, they have my full support. I will give up this year's award to reward the man who had a brave and kind heart and shot such a beast. I am not the one who wants bears to be killed, only pests," Jovanović said.
Belgia Peković, from the Župa village of Liverovići, pointed out that she suffered great damage from bears.
"I had a clinical death, they barely brought me back to consciousness from fear when I saw a bear that destroyed 26 of my sheep, out of 56 in the pen. Three days ago a bear passed through the village and no one did anything. No one is allowed to kill it, it is protected, and we are not. I think it is a shame for the Ministry to imprison honest guys from the hunting society. While there was Tito's society, there was the Army, everything was for the peasants, for the students, for the ministry, it was the same for everyone. Since they came, they divided the policies, we have been sick of bears and society. In ten days they will go to the mountains, and I am not allowed to go five meters in front of the cottage because of the bear. I would call the minister to send my family to my thorny place, so that they can see, if only a hen's nail was damaged, not from the family, what would he do. He would set all of Montenegro on fire. And we have no right to life, and the bear has. The doctors are busy with misery - to treat from paščadi and međed", said the eighty-three-year-old Peković.
Baćo Damjanović, whose cow was killed by a bear, said that people in the village seem to be left to their own devices.
In November last year, a bear attacked Miljan Grubač, a hunter and ranger of the Piva Nature Park, in Piva, causing him serious injuries, which doctors at the Clinical Center of Montenegro and the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade said were the first time they had encountered such injuries. Grubač, who is still recovering from serious injuries, came, as he said, to support the hunters and locals who are demanding that the state protect them from wild animals.
"We must not allow any case of attack on bears, on any animal, let alone on humans, because human life is the most important. People, I am very grateful to you for everything you have done for me and I wish you to persevere in the fight for everything you are seeking," Grubač said.
As Ratko Krivokapić said, laws are not written for the sake of bears, but for the sake of people.
"This bear that was shot is a real bloodsucker. They say it has killed over a hundred heads of cattle in the last five years in the area of Trepače, Kamensko, Smrdusa and other areas in that area. And the people there make a living from agriculture. It's lucky it didn't kill any of the people. In Slovenia and other European Union countries, if something like that happens, that individual is killed so that it doesn't cause more harm," said Krivokapić.
As he pointed out, the state has done nothing to compensate the farmers whose livestock was killed by a bear, arresting people who "saved" the villagers from harm, thus sending a message that people in the countryside are unprotected and that they should leave.
"I would like to see who would have the nerve to blame these people. Well, they are benefactors, they protected people and livestock. These people came at the invitation of their neighbors and friends who suffered great damage and fear, to protect them," said Krivokapić.
On behalf of the Vilusi Local Community, Vidak Šabanović spoke, pointing out that there is no control over the number of wild animals and that everything is left to chance.
"In the Hunting Law, game is the property of the state and the state disposes of it according to regulations with the help of the competent hunting society and hunting association. In this case, the owner has issued such regulations that the beast may not even be looked at sideways, and that the damage is compensated only if it occurred under specific conditions. We are witnesses that any shooting of game is considered a tragedy and is covered by the media, and that there are many who claim the right to judge whether a bear is more valuable than a bull and whether the life of a beast is more valuable than the life of a domestic animal. All this gives the impression that everyone claims the right to regulate our lives, to regulate our movement around the villages, to regulate the way we maintain our properties and perform our jobs, and that everyone knows better than us how to do it. Where regulations do not regulate things for the benefit of the people and nature, there is nothing left but for people to protect themselves, and that was the only case in this case," said Šabanović.
As he pointed out, they demand that those in authority properly address these problems and "together with the people who live in our region, and to the satisfaction of all parties," finally gain the impression that they are not living in anarchy, left to their own devices in fear of wild beasts or new punishments.
"The competent authorities react very effectively and deprive people of their liberty for hunting offenses, but not when it is necessary to protect property and people's lives," said Šabanović.
Đuro Perović believes that people engaged in livestock farming and agriculture in rural areas should be "given back their long-barreled weapons so they can defend themselves against wild animals," because "it is easy to write laws from armchairs and urban settlements."
More than a thousand citizens signed a petition demanding the release of four Nikšić residents suspected of killing a bear, and the petition signing continued after the protest.
The Brown Bear Management Plan, which the Government adopted in July last year, states that Montenegro has recorded a trend of slight population growth - in 2014 there were 401, and in 2022 there were 419.
"In Montenegro, there has been no planned use, or shooting, of brown bears in the last 20 years," it was stated.
The presence of the brown bear in Montenegro was registered in 26 hunting grounds, and research has shown that Montenegro has a stable population of brown bears, with very good gene flow.
The Action Plan for 2025, which was submitted to the Government for consideration in early April, only envisages emergency culling in the event of the appearance of problematic individuals.
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