‘Goats are good. They listen’: the herder who defeated Montenegro’s military – and can identify her cows’ herby burps

Mileva "Gara" Jovanović, a herder in Montenegro, successfully blocked plans to turn her mountain pastures into a NATO training zone, according to a new documentary film called "To Hold a Mountain."

The film, written and directed by Biljana Tutorov, follows Jovanović's life herding goats and cows in the Sinjajevina mountains near Podgorica. Jovanović describes her relationship with her animals as central to her work. "You have to take care of them because they are always searching for their paths," she says in the film. "But the goats are good, especially when they know the shepherdess. I'm a good shepherdess. They listen to me."

The documentary chronicles how Jovanović's traditional way of life faced a direct threat when her pastures were set to become a NATO training zone. Details of how she defeated the military plan are not provided in the available excerpt.