Tragic Prelude to a Celebration

Published in Notices

A harrowing incident the night before the major celebration in Honour of the Homeland provided an example of two opposite attitudes: irresponsible dog owners versus selfless saviours of a helpless kitten.

Daniela Lučić tirelessly saves animals and birds in need, and she also sings in Jelsa's excellent St. Cecilia' Choir. She has reported to Eco Hvar that the night before the major concert on the Jelsa Pjaca in honour of the Homeland (August 5th 2025), the visiting star singers from Split came across a tragic scene. A Jack Russell was savaging a half-blind street kitten, literally tearing it apart. The dog was walking with its owners, but was obviously not under control. The visitors saved the poor badly injured kitten and organised emergency care with the Stari Grad veterinary surgery. The operation lasted two hours, with the singers heading back to Jelsa at dawn, having covered all the (substantial) costs of the emergency treatment.

The trauma of the sleepless night was made worse because the next day the poor kitten did not survive. The owners of the Jack Russell did not help the situation when they accused this helpless animal of c. 6 weeks of attacking their dog. A far-fetched accusation in every respect, not least because Jack Russells are known to be potential killers of small animals.

Daniela rightly questions how can it be possible that the dog owners are not held responsible for the damage done by their out-of-control dog, coupled with the trauma caused to the witnesses. She's right, of course. Our Homeland should be a place of peace, where people and animals can live in harmony in this beautiful environment, in accordance with the laws of the land.

The concert was a great success and no-one would have been aware of the agony the guest singers had suffered just a few hours previously. We are extremely grateful to them for their care, which was truly heroic and is an example to us all! 

You are here: Home notices Tragic Prelude to a Celebration

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Authorities say water rising at lake at site of disaster and it could burst

    Eyewitness accounts have been emerging from the Tibetan side of the border, with a woman saying she was travelling from Gyirong town towards Nepal on Wednesday morning when her group encountered the flood about 4km from Gyirong port.

    “Trees and electricity poles had already been knocked down, and the flood water was bearing down on us. We didn’t dare turn around, so we could only reverse,” the woman, surnamed Fang, told Xiaoxiang Morning News.

    I was really scared. My whole body was trembling.

    Continue reading...

  • Horticulturalists begin moving and propagating plants before the rusty and warped Palm House begins renovation – but some are too tall to save

    It will be a gut-wrenching moment for the horticulturalists at Kew Gardens when some of the magnificent trees in the Palm House have to be felled.

    “There are some sad moments ahead,” said Palm House manager, Will Spoelstra, who knows all the plants inside the cathedral-like greenhouse.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: utility company wants to draw off tens of millions of litres of water a day from Thames and replace it with treated effluent

    Levels of a toxic “forever chemical” rose to 13 times the legal limit during Thames Water pilots for a controversial multimillion pound water recycling scheme that will pump millions of litres of treated sewage into the River Thames during drought.

    The data from the pilots is in stark contrast to public comments from Thames Water that their water recycling project in south-west London will not harm the riverine environment.

    Continue reading...

  • Our buildings are monuments to extraction and extreme emissions. But what if we turned from destructive concrete to timber?

    • Last chance to buy the summer issue of The Long Read magazine, now with 15% off. Click here to order

    I travelled to Oslo in the early autumn. It felt like arriving into the future. Or, at least, a fragment of a possible future. I drove north in the quiet digital bubble of my electric rental car. In 2024, Norway became the first country in the world where electric cars outnumbered petrol cars.

    A smooth, pristine motorway unfolded between farmlands and low hillsides of dense green forest. Long tunnels carried the route up above the banks of Lake Mjøsa, Norway’s largest lake. After a little more than an hour, the road curved downward to run parallel to the lakeshore.

    Continue reading...

  • Bears killed 13 people in Japan last year, as a lack of forest foods increased conflicts. Yet some say the country’s controversial cull could threaten the endangered species

    Every summer, millions of people escape the heat and humidity of Tokyo by heading to the tranquil resort town of Karuizawa in Japan’s Nagano prefecture – just an hour by bullet train from the capital. Here, at the foot of Mount Asama, visitors stroll bamboo-lined pathways, cycle in verdant highlands, and practise the wellness ritual of shinrin-yoku,bathing among the cool hinoki forests. It would be the ideal nature retreat – if it wasn’t for the bears.

    From June to August, bears often move close to Karuizawa, feeding on the mulberries, ants, leaves and cherry blossoms that grow near the town. Unlike nuts, these foods are low in calories, spurring the bears to seek out further sustenance. “They’re more likely to get close to residential spaces to see what they can find,” says Amelia Hiorns, a British zoologist who previously worked with Picchio Wildlife Research Centre in the town. “This combines with the busiest season for tourists.”

    Continue reading...

  • Investment in climate-resilient irrigation enables this year’s haul to rise 6% on 2025’s already bigger-than-usual yield

    British farmers have faced a sweltering summer tested by heatwaves, wildfires and water shortages – but a bumper berry harvest could prove a rare bright spot.

    With two-thirds of the harvest now picked, this year’s haul is 6% up on last year’s already unusually large crop, according to British Berry Growers (BBG). Volumes of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries picked have been particularly strong, the trade body said.

    Continue reading...

  • Steel rails warping and signalling equipment failing in metal cabinets are among the problems to be solved

    Tarmac softens in the summer heat, which may cause problems on the roads, but even trains running on steel rails are not immune.

    Railways in the UK are generally designed to operate within a 45C temperature range. The rails expand slightly in the heat, and excessive temperatures can produce “sun kink” with rails warping into S-shapes. The effect is small but the distortion can derail fast trains, so speeds are reduced for safety.

    Continue reading...

  • Lethal temperatures ​and wildfires have exposed a widening gulf between voters demanding ​action and politicians unwilling to confront the long-term choices global heating requires

    Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

    The climate crisis means “we’re going to have to change everything – the way we live, the way we produce, the way we trade,” France’s veteran radical-left firebrand, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, told the summer congress of his France Insoumise party last weekend.

    The term “climate change”, said Mélenchon – the most likely rival to Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential run-off, according to one poll this week – may sound “almost reassuring”, but its actual impact will feel like “landing on another planet whenever we leave home”.

    Continue reading...

  • A magical corner of Oregon has the highest US rate of wildfire smoke deaths. How do residents live with the haze – and grief?

    Driving into the county, you can’t miss the sign.

    “IT’S THE CLIMATE”.

    Continue reading...

  • Jack Klein takes heat readings, gives fans to overheated passengers and lugs big jugs of water into the stations

    On a recent August day in the subterranean furnace of New York City’s subway, one bearded, curly-haired man was studying his phone for different reasons than the other wilting passengers – to track the soaring temperatures and ponder how underground train stations can cool down in an era of climate crisis.

    Jack Klein, a 31-year-old construction site manager, has in the past two years taken it upon himself to become a sort of guerrilla subway heat operative, sticking teardrop-shaped thermometers to steel beams in seven of the hottest Manhattan stations and posting social media videos of the hades-like summer temperatures that commuters have to endure.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds