Poaching: Livorno, surprised by the Provincial Police to capture birds, even of protected species with illegal snap-on traps.
A 73-year-old retiree from Gabbro, already known to the Provincial Police, was caught catching birds with snap traps. The deadly traps had been placed in the patches of Gabbro, on the border with the municipality of Collesalvetti, within an area where hunting is prohibited. After a long stalking the agents, observing the moves of a suspicious person in a car, saw her get out and pick up prey from a trap. The poacher was thus blocked along a country road and the agents started looking for other traps placed in the woods. In the car they then found some dead birds and a jar of "gremignoli", worms used as bait for insectivorous birds. Having founded reason to believe that the man was hiding other evidence of the crime of poaching, they extended the search to the person's home, which is in a restocking and capture area, where the fauna is protected. Thus, four more triggered traps were found and a fifth in which a finch had been caught.
The man was referred to the Livorno Public Prosecutor's Office, which validated the acts carried out by the provincial police. The disputed crimes range from hunting in the period of closure, to hunting with prohibited means, precisely the leghold traps, killing of protected fauna, hunting in a restocking and capture area.
Altogether sixty-two metal snap traps and a jar of "gremignoli" (mealworms) were seized. The game bag collected by the poacher was made up entirely of protected fauna, among which 14 robins stood out. Among the victims also a song thrush, a species that can only be hunted from the end of September to January 31, therefore at the time of the seizure, to be considered protected. At the disposal of the judicial authority, the fauna must be destroyed. In addition to the offenses committed in the field of hunting, various administrative sanctions were also imposed on the man.
(February 25, 2015)
Source: IlTirreno - Livorno