Eloquent and shocking images. These are the ones that document, thanks to a video shot by a passer-by, the clumsy attempt by a man, presumably authorized by the Municipality, to push a coypu into the appropriate cage-trap. But the capture of the animal, which last Friday had suddenly appeared in Cremona, near the ASL family clinic, fails and the volunteer knocks it down with a shovel.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Eloquent and shocking images. These are the ones that document, thanks to a video shot by a passer-by, the clumsy attempt by a man, presumably authorized by the Municipality, to push a coypu inside the special cage-trap. But the capture of the animal, which last Friday had suddenly appeared in Cremona, near the ASL family clinic, fails and the volunteer he knocks it down with a shovel.
The crazy gesture has sparked the indignation of many people who are writing to the Municipality to protest and one complaint to the Public Prosecutor's Office by the Lav, who wants justice for the poor animal and asks that the torturer pay for this violent action. The capture, explains Lav, caused “the reaction of the animal which, not being a predator, did nothing but run away without showing any aggressive behavior but simply fear. After a short chase, however, the animal was caught up and brutally hit with shovels, until death “. All this took place in front of the eyes of some local police officers.
“Two municipal police officers witnessed the capture but our intervention was only supportive. The capture was carried out by one of the volunteers trained by the Province ", explained Fabio Germanà Ballarino, commander of the Municipal Police of Cremona, adding that now it will be necessary to understand if the animal could be, at that moment, dangerous for the citizens. The presence of nutria in the Po Valley, which is a problem due to the damage caused to agricultural crops and the threat it represents to the hydraulic defense system, only led to the last year, in the province of Cremona, capture and suppression of about 77 thousand specimens.
Some regions such as Lombardy (Regional Law 20/2002) promote actions aimed at numerical control of the populations of otters. “These controls, unfortunately, - says Lav- are carried out with cruel methods by hunters and authorized agricultural land owners, and above all without the due control that such operations should provide ". Instead, it is necessary to remember, Lav continues, "that the nutria is an animal belonging to the so-called" wild fauna "and therefore protected both by the special legislation L.157 / 1992 and by the legislation that sanctions criminal behavior against animals L.189 / 2004. Wounding or worse still killing a wild animal, outside the special provisions determined by the legislator, is obviously a criminally sanctioned crime pursuant to articles 544-bis and 544-ter of the Criminal Code with penalties of up to 2 years of imprisonment ".
Also because they exist alternative meno invasive towards this absolutely harmless animal, which feeds only on vegetables and which, despite the elongated and scaly shape of its tail, which in the collective imagination refers to rats, has very little in common with these rodents. One example among many is the municipality of Buccinasco, in the Milan area, where it has been taking place for some years an action of surgical sterilization of female nutria. The operation is ambitious, but the results are encouraging and should be an example for all the municipalities affected by the same hardship.
