IS a dramatic photograph of our country that taken by Lav in Zoomafia Report 2022drawn up with the patronage of Antonino Caponnetto Foundation and now in its twenty-third edition. We talk about a report every 55 minutesand something like 15 criminal cases and 9 suspects per 100 thousand inhabitants.
The 2022 Zoomafia Report of Lav
From animal fights to illegal horse racing, from horse racing scams to the illegal business of kennels, from wildlife smuggling to organized poaching: these are just some of the crimes analyzed in the LAV, to which is added the analysis of crimes against animals carried out with the examination of the data released by the Italian prosecutors.
Public Prosecutors’ data on animal crimes: + 3%
Examining the data of a sample of 105 out of 169 Public Prosecutors, including Ordinary and Minors, who sent data for both 2020 and 2021 (a sample equal to 62% of all Public Prosecutors), an increase in proceedings in 2021, compared to 2020, equal to + 3% (6428 files in 2020 and 6621 in 2021); while the number of suspects decreased by approximately -4.10% (3675 investigated in 2020 and 3524 in 2021).
Therefore, projecting on a national scale the data of the public prosecutors who responded, equal to 70% of the Italian public prosecutors, taking into account the necessary variations and decreases, it was estimated that, in 2021, Approximately 26 files were opened a day, one every 55 minutes; with about 14 suspects a day, one every 103 minutes, for crimes against animals. There is a national rate of 15.5 cases and 8.6 suspects per 100,000 inhabitants.
Killing of animals, the most contested crime
The most contested offense is that of Killing of animals, with 2624 proceedings and 428 under investigation. As always, however, the vast majority of complaints are against unknown persons, who in 2021 accounted for 86.24%.
Also for 2021 the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Brescia, which is the most important poaching hotspot in Italy, the one with the most proceedings registered for crimes against animals is confirmed: 538 with 363 under investigation. As always, the majority of the proceedings concern hunting or wildlife crimes: 280 equal to 52.04% of the total, with 281 suspects equal to 77.41% of the total suspects.
Criminal infiltration into horse racing
Among the zoomafiosi crimes they are particularly worrying clandestine horse racing and criminal infiltration also in official horse racing, through the control of clandestine betting, rigged competitions, doping, horse theft and intimidation. According to official data relating to the list of horses tested positive for doping control, in 2021 as many as 60 horses that participated in official competitions tested positive for some prohibited substance. These are races held in racecourses throughout Italy.
The kennel business
Another big criminal business is that relating to dogs and kennels. In 2021, by default, 11 kennels and shelters were seized, which overall contained over 1200 dogs; 8 people reported for various reasons. From 2004 to 2021 inclusive they were at least 79 the kennels seizedwith 9213 dogs and 200 cats, and 100 people reported.
The fashion of the purebred puppy, a millionaire trafficking
The fashion of the purebred puppy feeds a millionaire traffic and, in this context, the tratta of puppies from Eastern countries it is confirmed as one of the most profitable businesses involving thousands of animals every year and which sees real transactional organizations active. Since 2010, the year in which the law against the trafficking of puppies came into force, up to and including 2021, 7015 dogs and 92 cats have been seized (with a total value of approximately 5,612,000 euros). 400, however, the people reported: Russians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Romanians, Poles and, of course, Italians.
Animal trade on the web
The trade in animals finds the Net as a privileged way of spreading. «Our recent investigation has shown that only 38% of Internet ads relating to animals in CITES (the international agreement between states that aims to protect plants and animals at risk of extinction) or protected referred to the existence of documentation proving the regularity of possession, sale, or breeding, while for the remaining 62%, there was no mention of the documentation », explains Ciro Troiano, criminologist, author of the Report and head of the Zoomafia Observatory of LAV. «Who verifies that the protected species offered for sale is of legitimate origin? How do you ascertain that it has not been the object of illegal capture or criminal trafficking? ”.
Fights between animals: investigations and kidnappings
With regard to fighting between animals, a crime often associated with drug dealing, criminal associationand receiving stolen goods, in 2021 no major law enforcement operations were recorded, but only sporadic kidnappings of dogs: 52 pit bulls seized in clandestine farms, illegal facilities or in criminal contexts.
However, in March, the State Police completed an important operation in Canicattì (AG), an area that had already been at the center of the news for similar cases in the past: the police stopped a dog fight and caught dozens of them in the act of people, including two minors.
“Justice for all victims, of any kind”
“Unfortunately, it is evident that, despite some cases of maltreatment meet great echo, crimes against animals are tolerated by legislation and society with leniency towards other transgressions, in coherence with the anthropocentric perspective », concludes Troiano. “Often we have to do with mere legal slaps, a judicial washing of the head, little more than a warning, or a purely formal punishment”.
Lav is committed, in this context, to a amendment of the law on criminal protection of animals (Law 189), firm for months in the Senate Justice Commission, with the petition # MISALVICHIPUÒ: to guarantee justice, with a just and proportionate penalty, to the victims. “To any victim, of any kind,” concludes Troiano.
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