16/12/2025
Last week feels a lifetime ago yet still so new and raw. We are in deep mourning for the loss of our rescuer and founder of Roaming Tails but equally the loss of a true friend – a once or twice in a lifetime friend.
Vikki died in hospital in Skopje on the 8th Dec and was buried two days later in her hometown of Berovo. n that short time, the news of her passing reached so many that there were over 3000 candles lit for her and 1000s attended the service from all over Macedonia and beyond. We are told that Macedonia has never known anything like it, even for celebrities.
And yet this was a young woman who was often alone because she chose to defend, rescue and care for the stray and abandoned animals.
Going against the “normal” in her town meant a life of difficulty and heartbreak and few people understood the magic of our truly unique animal whisperer.
A bit like her beloved Sarplaninacs she was wildly independent, headstrong and stubborn, often to her detriment. She fought for their freedom and right to exist and stray animals flocked to her. This bond she had with the animals was otherworldly & beautiful.
Tragically in her final months she had been relentlessly targeted by her neighbours and other locals who wanted to drive her and her animals away, they were laying poison for the cats and dogs to kill them and even physically attacked Vikki when she tried to defend her beloved cats and dogs. Technically, poisoning animals in Macedonia is illegal, but the law looks the other way and so it continues. Vikki had been a prisoner in her flat with her cats and dogs for months, trying ever more desperately to keep them safe and to stop any more dying awful deaths.
We hope her legacy will bring a change in the mindsets towards animals and end the barbaric awful practice of poisoning innocent souls in Macedonia. Unfortunately this will take time and time is something we don’t have to save her beloved cats and dogs.
Her long-term friend Ivan has flown back to stay for the 40-day vigil and has been given the role by her family to attend the grave at sunrise each day to pour water and wine and her favourite drink Schweppes. Rather poignantly he often finds stray dogs there. Who knows, perhaps they are paying their respects or watching over her. In Macedonian custom on the 40th day after a death the soul is released and there will be a ceremony to honour her. Ironically/poetically/tragically the 40th day falls on Vikkis 38th birthday. It is also a Saints Day. One can’t but help think on the parallels here.
Ivan says: Vikki has been reserved a place in Paradise (heaven) and has a front row place that no one can dispute.
Her animals were her legacy, and we know it would be her dying wish that they were kept save and loved unconditionally. Her dogs in the flat are Vidra and Betty Blue and on the field the first arrivals, bonded pair Riko and Buba. Her feline family include Amy, Anny, Aslan, Arial, Barbie (one of her first), and the rest of her family Berry, Bon Bon, Django, Eleonor, Felicia, Jenny, Kitty, Maya , Minty, Melanie, Puma, Theodore, Tigrica, Sharka, Simon, Tiara, Tobias, Victor.
For anyone whose life she touched or whose animal she rescued we have so little time to act and need to work collectively to keep them safe but also cover their expenses. If you feel you could adopt or foster or sponsor or donate, please, please message us. We urge other rescuers and Macedonians to help as collectively we have a better reach. This is about coming together as adopters, rescuers, friends and family to honour her legacy.
Thank you
