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Animal massacre in a village in Moldova left 200 sheep dead

March 20, 2010
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In early March, in Dereneu, a village located north of the Republic of Moldova’s capital Chisinau, people were shaken by a shocking story. Like a thunderstorm, it was spread throughout this poor Eastern European nation. Unidentified person or persons killed with unprecedented cruelty 200 sheep belonging to a local farmer. The shepherd, sheep owner in Dereneu, Ion Vameş, when saw his animals dead, he felt that the earth is crumbling beneath his feet...

The tragedy happened in the evening of March 7. The shepherd left his sheepfold without guards and went home for a few hours. When he returned hours later, at eleven at night, he heard an unusual noise coming from the herd. Over one quarter of his sheep had fallen flat on the ground, being already dead. The rest of the sheep barely stand up. One by one they were falling down. The veterinarian, who was called to examine the sheep, said that animals have died after being pierced with an awl or a screwdriver. 65 sheep died immediately, because they were stabbed right in the heart, the veterinarian doctor concluded. Others, who have lived some additional hours, had other injuries - criminals have penetrated other organs.

The owner looked powerless to terrible tortures poor animals went thru. Because of pain, the sheep, due in April, began to give birth prematurely. Lambs died immediately, mother-sheep have died soon after.

When talking to a reporter from the Chisinau-based Timpul Newspaper, Alexandra Vameş drowned in tears.

"It is a great tragedy for our family, she said, breathing increasingly difficult."

"In our village most of the people are old, the young left to work abroad. Perhaps, someone thought we live too well, envying us. Nobody in the village has so many sheep as we had. People have from 10 to 50 sheep," Alexandra said, trying to guess who did this to them.

Due to proximity to his sheep hold from home, some 500 meters apart, Ion used to leave his sheep without supervision for an hour or two while going home for dinner.

Ion remembers that that night he was actually pursued by someone, but he never paid attention to it. Then, someone has phoned him home, having a strange voice he did not recognize. The Vameş family suspects that the offender is someone from their village.

Alexandra and Ion Vameş, both 43, years ago, bought several sheep, growing their number to a herd of 200. The animals were their only wealth. Now, after this tragedy, they have nowhere to buy other sheep, because no animals are sold in the spring in Moldova, when people managed to get them out of winter and sheep give milk. Besides, they have no money to buy sheep, which costs about a thousand Moldovan lei (some $90). Average monthly salary in Moldova in January this year was just $211.

The event has scared the whole village

Although the crime took place on March 7, perpetrators have not yet been found. Police launched a criminal investigation.

"We will continue search to identify the criminal," said Ludmila Hare, chief criminal prosecution in Calarasi.

What happened to Ion’s family shocked the whole village. Everybody talks about this crime. Nobody understands why this crime took place or why it was directed to this family that did not do any harm to anybody, according to neighbors the reporter from Timpul spoke with.

In Dereneu, people began to lock up doors, staying awake at night, watching out for their animals...

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