“Never bite the hand that feeds you”, goes an old saying.
It does not read “never bite the hand of the President of Austria during a state visit to Moldova”, as the dog Codrut did on Thursday this week, according to the news agency Reuters.
The incident took place when the Austrian president tried in good faith to pet his Moldovan colleague’s dog during a walk in the courtyard in front of the presidential palace in the Moldovan capital, Chișinău.
Sandu is said to have immediately apologized to Van der Bellen, and explained that the relocation dog was frightened by the large number of people present
The Austrian president, for his part, lived up to the country’s constitutional neutrality, and forgave the unprovoked attack without a bark or a growl.
Shortly afterwards, he is said to have been observed with his right hand bandaged. Just as fully, he moved out on Friday with a conciliatory message on his Instagram-profile.
– Everyone who knows me knows that I love dogs, he said in a video post – and expressed understanding for the first dog’s eagerness and nervousness during the hectic events.
Also present during the event was Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar. Musar and Van der Bellen were in Moldova to discuss the country’s membership negotiations with the EU.
Moldova and Ukraine applied for EU membership after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both countries were granted candidate status in June, according to Politico.
Before leaving Moldova, Van der Bellen allegedly gave Codrut “a little toy”, according to Reuters.
The pit bull that just needed love
Three legs
Codrut became a fixture in the Moldovan president’s entourage in early 2023, when he was adopted by Sandu after losing a leg in a car accident, according to Politico.
– Codrut has been part of the president’s team for around seven months, after he was found on the street, hit by a car. Unfortunately we were unable to save his paw, but after a few months of treatment he is now happily running on three legs, the president wrote in a post on his Instagramprofile at the end of September.
Dagbladet has not been able to independently verify that Codrut is usually a good boy, but sees no reason to doubt this.
American colleague
Codrut is not the only first dog to have ended up in the media’s critical spotlight after sinking its teeth into a public official.
At the beginning of October, it became clear that Commander, the manager of US President Joe Biden, was removed from the White House.
At the time, the two-year-old had been involved in a number of biting incidents, the latest at the end of September.
– The President and First Lady care deeply about the safety of those who work in the White House and those who protect them every single day. They are grateful for the patience of the Secret Service and everyone involved, and continue to work on possible solutions, said Jill Biden’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander, according to Reuters.
It is unclear whether the Commander was moved to another residence or to the eternal hunting grounds.
2023-11-17 21:05:52
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