A two-month-old fawn from the Kičevo area, named Bambi, was caught in an illegal steel trap and seriously injured. The prognosis was so poor that putting the animal down was even considered. Instead, a group of people decided to fight for it - and it is that decision, more than the injury itself, that exposes what no one here wants to say out loud.

Bambi is being cared for by the association Animal Rescue Project, which took responsibility and keeps fighting for its life. It sounds nice - until you ask why this has to be done by a volunteer group and not the state. The answer is uncomfortable: in Macedonia there is not a single specialised centre for the rehabilitation of injured wild animals. Not one.

Our neighbours have solved this. Both Bulgaria and Greece have such centres. Here, every case like this is handled through improvisation - activists, private veterinary clinics, personal contacts and pressure through social media. There is no protocol, no clear responsibility, no infrastructure. When a protected species is injured, permits and coordination between institutions are needed that in practice don't exist, so while the paperwork spins, the animal waits.

It isn't even a new topic. Back in 2021 the Macedonian Ecological Society warned that a dedicated centre for rehabilitating native animals was needed. Years passed, and the system is still where it was - empty in the place where it should stand. And while that lasts, the traps in the forests operate freely, set by those who know that almost no one comes after them.

Bambi may survive, may not - that depends on a few people of good will, not on a state with a plan. And that is the real story: not about one fawn, but about a country where even saving a single life depends on whether someone stubborn enough to not give up happens to turn up. Who protects wildlife in Macedonia? For now - almost no one.