It was still in use then: A photo from 2005 shows the digger carrying out landscaping work at Ulcinj Salina.
© Borut StumbergerIn 2004 EuroNatur provided a grant for a digger to carry out conservation work at Ulcinj Salina, particularly for the maintenance of dams and dykes. These measures are vital for controlling the water regime at the salina on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast, which was declared a natural park after years of pressure from EuroNatur and its partners.
In 2010 the digger was taken away for repairs, but then never returned to the Salina. EuroNatur and its Montenegrin partners reported the loss, but the investigations could not find it and were suspended. Now the vehicle has turned up, dismantled and broken up, at a scrap yard in the town of Budva.
This case is a good example of the mafia activities of those responsible for this incident which make the bird conservation work of EuroNatur and its partners in the natural park so difficult. Whether it is a stolen digger or unresolved ownership disputes, we are demanding that the new government in Podgorica at long last puts an end to the corruption in the Ulcinj Salina affair and adopts measures which really protect the natural park in practical terms rather than just on paper.