Animals exploited in a criminal way, used in fighting or for clandestine races, smuggled, illegally slaughtered, between intimidation and millionaire drug rpm. You know that in Italy there are about 14 suspects a day for crimes to the detriment of animals?
This is what emerges from the 26th Zoomafia report of the Lav, which collects the numbers of the investigations carried out over the years in our country from which a terrible and articulated reality emerges zoomafiosa.
The data collected by the report relate to the total number of criminal proceedings that have occurred in 2024, both known and against unknown persons, and the number of suspects for crimes to the detriment of animals.
The numbers
By projecting the data of the prosecutors who responded on a national scale, equal to 78% of the Italian prosecutors, both ordinary and minorile, in 2024 about 22 files were opened, with about 14 suspects per day, for crimes to the detriment of animals. Since it is based on estimates calculated on a sample and not on the total number of Italian prosecutors, which are therefore only indicative.
At national level, there is a rate of 13.85 procedures and 8.36 investigated per 100,000 inhabitants. Compared to 2023, there has been a decrease in -5.60% of the procedures while the number of suspects increased by about 3.75%.
The flexion recorded does not correspond to an effective decrease in crimes against animals, but indicates only a reduction in the complaints and facts ascertained – explains Ciro Troiano, criminologist and head of the Lav Zoomafia Observatory – while the increase in the number of suspects shows that the cases committed by several people in competition are increasing, an indication of a greater spread of the forms of organized abuse of animals.
The most contested crime is that of killing of animals, with 2319 procedures equal to 33.58% of the total procedures for crimes against animals recorded with 558 suspects. As always, however, the vast majority of complaints for killing animals is borne by unknown persons, who in 2024 represented more than 83%.
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Also for 2024, the Brescia Prosecutor’s Office is confirmed as the one with multiple procedures registered for crimes against animals: 265 with 219 suspects. As always, the majority of the procedures concerns the hunting crimes or against wildlife: 134 equal to 50.56% of the total, with 152 suspects equal to 69.40% of the total of the suspects. This is because the province of Brescia It represents the most important poaching hotspot in Italy so the number of procedures for this type of crimes significantly affects the total average of crimes against registered animals. Catania follow with 178 procedures and 148 suspects; Bergamo with 173 procedures and 95 suspects; Trento with 170 procedures and 99 suspects; Rome with 163 procedures and 93 suspects; Milan with 155 procedures and 90 suspects.
In the face of this dramatic situation, it is necessary to have effective regulatory tools, not only from a formal point of view, but also in terms of applicability and proportionality with respect to the damage caused – concludes Troiano. Unfortunately, the new legislation on the criminal protection of animals recently approved does not completely go in this direction.
