A one-month-old pony named Mile has become an unusual new resident of a fourth-floor apartment in Rovinj, a fishing town on Croatia’s Istrian peninsula. He is living there temporarily because his mother rejected him at birth. Mile recently survived surgery in neighboring Slovenia to remove a life-threatening infection, after which supporters raised money to help cover his treatment.
His caretaker, Angelka Josipovic, says the foal needs round-the-clock attention. “Every two hours we warm milk and feed him,” she said. “If we forget to feed him, he wakes up, comes to us and wakes us up.” Josipovic lives in a one-room apartment with her partner, Kristian Ilenic, their two sons, a dog and now Mile. Neighbors have noticed the animal, but no one has complained.
Josipovic said Mile is now eating well and has gained one kilogram, and she hopes he will recover fully. On the first night, she recalled, the veterinarian thought there was no hope and wanted to put him down. “I said, let’s try until morning,” she said. “Now it seems that my insistence paid off.”
The family also runs a small farm and children’s playroom in Bale, about 15 kilometers from Rovinj, where Mile spends time each day with llamas, pigs, horses and sheep. At night he returns to Rovinj in the back seat of the family car, with a place reserved for him on a mattress or the sofa. Ilenic said keeping Mile in the apartment is still manageable because he is only 16 kilograms, but “in about 20 days, this will probably no longer be possible.” He hopes the foal will be strong enough by then to stay at the farm.
