On Friday Slovenia's Foreign Ministry delivered a note to the Croatian embassy in Ljubljana protesting over the exhumation of a carcass of a horse by the farm owned by controversial Josko Joras, located near the Plovanija crossing on the left bank of the Dragonja river which Slovenia claims to be its territory.
Istrian county veterinarians reported on Friday that the exhumation of the carcass of a mare had been carried out following a report by the Croatian police on the suspicion that animal remains were buried near the border area in the municipality of Buje, contrary to relevant laws and sanitary regulations.
The Croatian ministry handed its protest note to the Slovene embassy in Zagreb on Saturday saying that the exhumation and removal of unlawfully buried animal remains had been undertaken only to prevent the outbreak of possible contagious diseases. In addition, this was done on the territory of Croatia, the Croatian ministry said.
The exhumed animal remains were transferred to the veterinary station in Rijeka for autopsy tests to be conducted by the Croatian Veterinary Institute to establish whether the mare died of a contagious disease.
The Croatian ministry, therefore, refutes accusations by the Slovene side that this was one of a series of "unilateral moves" through which Croatia was trying to prejudge the outcome of the settlement of the border dispute.
The Slovene protest note reads that Croatian veterinary services had dug up the carcass "on the Slovene territory".
The said area along the Dragonja river was treated by Slovenia as a disputable region until recently. Two months ago, however, during the ratification of Croatia's NATO accession protocol, the Slovene parliament adopted a declaration labelling the said area as part of Slovenia's territory.
The Croatian ministry today underlines that it is necessary for the two countries to solve the border issue urgently and in the spirit of good neighbourly relations.