Ljuljka Vila Mrkulić (46) from the Gusinje village of Desni Grnčar - Laze Mrkulić claims that she barely escaped alive after a close encounter with a bear practically on her doorstep.
She told "Vijesti" that the bear had previously injured her cows in front of the house.
The attack happened on Friday morning, and Mrkulić claims that the bear came to her house on two more occasions, that day and the next day. After the death of her parents, Ljuljka says that she is the only resident of that hamlet near Gusinje, and the nearest neighbor is more than a kilometer away, far enough away that she cannot call for help.
"After the morning milking, I went inside to strain the milk, and the cows were left grazing around the house. Suddenly, a terrible roar was heard and I ran outside. I was terrified when I saw the monstrosity tearing at the cows and how it particularly attacked one of them, injuring all of them, while the other five rushed towards it, roaring and trying to defend it. I brought out a saucepan and started screaming, and then I shot at it, but I didn't hit it. At that moment, the bear stood up on its hind legs and flew towards me, so fast that I barely had time to run into the house and escape alive," said the visibly shaken woman, adding that at that moment the bear seemed to her to look like "a five-story house, which made her start to shake."
Mrkulić explained that she experienced stress, and that after the event she immediately called veterinarians from Plav, who treated the cows' wounds for about three hours.
Retired veterinarian Dr. Zuvdija Jasavić told "Vijesti" that in four decades of work, he had not remembered bears coming to the doorsteps of homes in the Gusinje and Plav municipalities.
"There have been reports of attacks in the forests, but what has been happening recently has not happened before. This is a terrible thing that has happened and the state must find a way to protect the population, because the consequences could be tragic," said Jasavić.
He explained that in the past few months, two people have been attacked in the area, who, he said, fortunately escaped death. He said that one case involved a shepherd who was attacked by a bear while trying to save sheep, and the other case involved a hunter who, when attacked by a bear, fired a shot into the air. He says that the hunter did not have time to fire a second bullet because the bear knocked him down, but that he somehow managed to defend himself by hitting him with the butt of his gun.
Jasavić states that there are up to 200 bears in the Gusinje and Plav areas.
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