In recent days, the staff and volunteers of Rewilding Apennines and Salviamo l’Orso, during some monitoring and control activities carried out together with the Carabinieri Forestali and the Surveillance Service of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, have found a total of the carcasses of nine wolves, five Griffon vultures and two Common ravens, all of whom died of poisoning.
In recent days, the staff and volunteers of Rewilding Apennines and Salviamo l’Orso, during some monitoring and control activities carried out together with the Carabinieri Forestali and the Surveillance Service of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, have found a total of the carcasses of nine wolves, five Griffon vultures and two Common ravens, all of whom died of poisoning.
The episode took place in the area of Cocullo, in the Province of L’Aquila, outside protected areas, but in the important ecological corridor that unites the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park and the Sirente Velino Regional Natural Park. This is also an important area for the rare Marsican brown bear. In recent years, similar episodes have occurred in the same area and in the same period of time, which in one case also killed two golden eagles by poisoning.
The spreading of poisoned baits or carcasses with poison on the territory is a criminal practice that must be fought and condemned and which represents a threat to the safety, not only of wildlife, but also of humans and pets. The impact of these illegal activities is enormous and often difficult to verify in its entirety, affecting on all the animals that from time-to-time feed on these sources.
Rewilding Apennines, Salviamo l’Orso, Io Non Ho Paura Del Lupo, Stazione Ornitologica Abruzzese, Società Italiana per la Storia della Fauna, LIPU, Altura, Orso & Friends, Appennino ecosistema, Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali, FederTrek, Paliurus, Mountain Wilderness, Altrementi Valle Peligna, Ambiente e/è Vita, Dalla parte dell’Orso, WWF Abruzzo, Pro Natura Abruzzo, Italia Nostra, CONALPA, CAI Abruzzo, Ecotur, Intramontes and Wildlife Adventures have written and sent a letter to the national, regional and local authorities that are competent for matters on environmental and judicial police for forcefully ask for incisive actions to prevent the phenomenon of poisoning and to strengthen intervention and investigation procedures, in order to reduce as much as possible this very serious risk for biodiversity and for human communities, making themselves available for a meeting.
Finally, we appeal to every single citizen, so that he/she is aware that these crimes are unfortunately still present and can become the spokesperson for a different culture, made up of knowledge and respect for nature, attachment to place and coexistence with wildlife.