La Constitutional Court judged article 4 of the Law of the Abruzzo Region number 11 of 2016, who authorized the performance of dog and dog activities for eight months a year in an area that is part of the regional protected areas. The aim of the article was to facilitate the sustainable development of inland areas by promoting dog-type tourism.
The Council considered this presence of dogs in parks and reserves detrimental to the obligations imposed by the European Union. Furthermore, despite the activity being authorized by law, the minimum levels of environmental protection would have been exceeded, in contrast to the first two paragraphs of article 117 of the Constitution. The judges have traced the training to hunting as instrumental to hunting, consequently subject to the same discipline.
In particular, the Court recognized in the law the violation of the prohibition provided for in Article 21 of the National Hunting Law ("Prohibitions"). Among other things, the vice cannot be overcome even with limits of time and space as regards training. The Italian legislator has set a minimum level of environmental protection which also includes the prohibition of disturbing animal species in the area (in the case of Abruzzo it is the wolf, the brown bear and the chamois).