After the postponement of last December due to a procedural vice, in these hours The process officially kicked off Against the man who admitted that he killed the black cherry Orsa on the night between 31 August and 1 September 2023. The procedure takes place before the Court of Avezzano, but the first hearing ended with a New postponement to July 18th To allow the judge to pronounce on some exceptions presented by the defense, relating to the summons to trial and the constitutions of the civil party.
The Amarena Orsa was not any animal. It was one of the very few reproductive females of Marsican brown beara unique and strongly threatened subspecies that survives only in a restricted area of the central Apennines. Amarena had never expressed aggressive behavior towards man. Yet it was killed In shot, in a public area, while he was distant from people and in a non -threatening attitude. A death as cruel as it is avoidable.
WWF Italia – which has been a civil party in the process, together with other associations and institutions such as the Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park, the Abruzzo Region and the Municipality of San Benedetto dei Marsi – asks for a clear and timely sentence.
We need a sentence that launch a strong signal – they say from the association – to those who think they can shoot a protected animal without consequences.
The death of Amarena was not only a brutal and unacceptable act, but also a blow to the survival of the Marsican brown bear, which today has just about sixty individuals.
Our participation in the process is an integral part of the “Orso 2 × 50” project, which aims to double this population by 2050 with concrete actions in the area, explains Filomena Ricci, WWF regional delegate for Abruzzo.
The WWF also denounces the growing hostile climate against wildlife, often fueled by those who cover institutional roles, instead of promoting a balanced coexistence between man and nature, it is preferred to paint the fauna as an enemy to be eliminated.
Penis too light for those who kill a bear
Today, in Italy, killing a bear – despite being a very high protection species – involves minimal criminal risks. Depending on the applied rule, the penalty may vary from a few months in prison to a simple fine, in some cases even oblazing. With just over a thousand euros, the author of a crime like the one against Amarena could close the story with the criminal record intact.
A recent legislative modification, in force from the end of June, has slightly raised the penalties (up to 3 years for the killing of animals and up to 1 year for the violation of faunal protections), but it still remains too little compared to the severity of the damage caused.
The WWF has been asking for some time that in cases like this it is applied article 452-bis of the criminal code, relating to environmental crimes, which provides for penalties of up to six years in prison and fines up to 100,000 euros for those who seriously damage biodiversity.
