Sarplaninac Mauls Girl in Barajevo, Dog on the Run

A sarplaninac attacked and bit a girl this morning in Barajevo, a suburban municipality southwest of Belgrade. The attack happened around 7 a.m., as the girl was walking her usual route through the neighborhood.

According to Tanjug, the girl was born in 2011. Mondo, Kurir and Espreso, however, report that the injured girl is a 16 year old teenager. There is no official confirmation of her exact age so far, and the sources disagree on this detail.

The sarplaninac belongs to a neighbor of the injured girl, Espreso reports. At the time of the attack, the dog was roaming the neighborhood freely, without a leash or a muzzle.

For reasons that remain unclear, the dog suddenly lunged at the girl and began biting her body. Nearby residents managed to drive it away from the child, and their quick response kept her injuries from being even more serious.

Girl taken to hospital

An ambulance crew arrived on the scene shortly after and treated the injured girl before taking her to hospital. She was rushed to a medical facility with bite wounds and, according to reports, was admitted in severe shock.

Doctors treated her wounds immediately on admission, and she also underwent the mandatory tetanus protocol. Beyond her physical recovery, the girl now also faces recovering from the psychological trauma the attack caused. There is no information yet on whether she remains hospitalized.

Dog on the run, search underway

After the attack, the sarplaninac fled the scene. Police and a veterinary service have been searching for it since this morning, and police patrols have also been deployed in Barajevo.

Once found, the dog will be placed under mandatory ten day veterinary observation. During that period, the relevant service will check its vaccination status and rule out rabies.

Belgrade Veterinary Service and police are urging Barajevo residents not to try to catch or approach the dog themselves. Anyone who spots it on the street should notify police immediately.

Owner faces criminal charges

A criminal complaint is expected to be filed against the neighbor who owns the dog. The grounds cited are endangering public safety and irresponsible keeping of a dangerous dog.

Serbia’s Animal Welfare Act requires that dogs of dangerous breeds be walked on public surfaces exclusively on a short leash. A muzzle is also mandatory alongside the leash. As a large and powerful breed, the sarplaninac falls under this requirement.

The criminal offense of endangering public safety applies to situations where someone’s careless conduct puts other people’s lives or bodies at risk. In this case, that assessment centers on how the dog ended up unsupervised and escaped from the yard.

Police in Barajevo and the relevant inspection services are working to establish the full circumstances of the incident. They are specifically checking how the dog managed to escape the owner’s yard, and whether it had previously been reported for similar behavior.

Until the proceedings conclude, the presumption of innocence applies to the dog’s owner. The competent prosecutor’s office will issue a final assessment of any responsibility once all the circumstances of the dog’s escape and the attack itself have been established. Until then, the question of exactly how the dog left the yard where it was kept also remains open.