Crimes against animals: the Chamber has just approved the bill, first signed by the deputy Michela Vittoria Brambilla, which introduces changes to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code regarding crimes against animals.
The text, of 14 articles, now passes to the Senate for examination: it contains a tightening of penalties and new provisions for the protection of animals.
What does the bill filed in the House provide against those who abandon, mistreat and kill animals
What does the bill provide?
In general, there is a strengthening of penalties for those who commit crimes against animals
Crime of killing
Penalties increase for crime of killing which goes from a sentence of four months’ imprisonment at the minimum and two years at the maximum to six months at the minimum and three years at the maximum, always accompanied by a fine from 5 thousand to 30 thousand euros.
If the crime is committed using torture or by deliberately prolonging the suffering of the animal, the minimum is one year and the maximum is four, with a doubled fine from 10 thousand to 60 thousand euros.
Mistreatment and killing or damage to other people’s animals
The sentences also increase in this case: from 3 months to 18 at the most, to six months at the minimum and 2 years at the maximum, always accompanied by the fine – between 5 thousand and 30 thousand euros – which is currently an alternative to imprisonment.
Penalties increase forkilling or the damage of other people’s animals: the crime finally becomes prosecutable ex officio, the criminal action can therefore start at the request of the judicial authority, independent of the report of third parties. The sentence goes from six months to one year at the minimum and from one year to four years at the maximum. The article will be applicable to the killing or harm of even a single person bovine or equine.
Specific aggravating circumstances are also introduced with the new article 544-septies of the Criminal Code if the facts are committed in the presence of minorsagainst multiple animals, or if the fact is spread through IT and telematic tools.
Puppy trafficking
The proposed law provides sanctions for the trafficking of animals without a microchip and passport. It’s been 3 months since imprisonment in the minimum and one year in the maximum to 4 months minimum and 18 maximum, with a fine that doubles: 6 thousand euros in the minimum and 30 thousand in the maximum. For a minimum of three violations in three years of the ban on illegally introducing pets, the transporter or owner of the commercial company will have their authorization to operate the business permanently revoked.
The purely pecuniary penalties, foreseen for abandonment and detention in conditions incompatible with the ethological nature of the animal, range from a minimum of one thousand to 5 thousand euros with a maximum of 10 thousand. Furthermore, with the new Highway Code, an increase in the penalty of up to a third is expected when abandonment occurs on the road or in nearby areas, meaning that the minimum fine can increase significantly.
Protected species
Finally, penalties increase in the case of killing, capturing or keeping animals of protected species, therefore it does not apply to dogs and cats but to wild fauna. For these cases the prison sentence goes from one month at the minimum and six months at the maximum to three months at the minimum and one year at the maximum, always combined with the fine which doubles, up to 8 thousand euros. In cases of destruction or deterioration of habitat in a protected site, arrest goes from up to 18 months to arrest from 3 months to 2 years. Here too the fine is doubled, which will be no less than 6 thousand euros.
Finally, the seized animals may be permanently entrusted to animal rights associations or private citizens before the conclusion of the trial and a ban on the killing or sale of animals involved in criminal investigations is introduced.
The shadows according to the LAV
First of all, the penalties provided for those who mistreat or kill animals do not represent a concrete step forward: those who mistreat and kill animals will be able to continue to benefit from measures such as “probation” or be acquitted due to “the triviality of the crime”.
Furthermore, the Chamber rejected some aggravating circumstances which would have allowed higher penalties to be imposed on acts of particular social alarm such as the killing of cohabitants’ animals or with the use of firearms, as well as the possibility of punishing those who kill and mistreated animals due to negligence or carelessness or even those who are guilty of theft of pets.
The article on chain detention constitutes a real regression in the legal protection of animals completely not in line with other current regulatory sources (such as, for example, the regional laws of Calabria, Campania, Marche and Umbria) which already provide for a ban tout court, without exceptions , which has worsened during today’s debate.
Other weak points concern the lack of concrete measures for the control and prevention of crimes against animals, such as the extension of the activity of the Zoophile Guards – currently limited to dogs and cats – to all animal categories and the use of undercover to fight illicit trafficking.
We also consider the deletion of the entire article relating to the extension of the provision of confiscation of animals in the event that a conviction is not achieved, as well as the perpetual ban on the keeping of pets, to be very negative.
Finally, as regards reception centers for animal victims of crime, yesterday the Justice Commission also failed to implement the provision which would have provided for their establishment by the State. canceling a fundamental tool to ensure adequate protection for animals.
