Man who poached birds has been arrested for stealing from the State

 A poacher has been arrested in Venegono Superiore, as he was getting ready to catch birds indiscriminately. In the garden of his large property, in Via Rimembranze, he had set up 5 nets, each 10 m wide and 2 m high. He also had 4 nets on poles and 2 still wrapped up, none of which were in use.

Photos of the seizure

FIRST ARREST FOR STEALING FROM THE STATE

This is a rather rare case, from a legal point of view, because being arrested for poaching does not happen often. The man is 70, he is real estate developer, and he will have to appear before the judge at Varese Court next Wednesday morning, and spend the night in a cell at the Carabinieri Station. At his home, the Carabinieri from Castiglione Olona and the Interprovincial Service for Animal Protection found a cage, used as a trap, 8 plastic bird shapes and 3 cages with trapped birds, that were in conditions that the judicial police considered constituted criminal maltreatment. The birds were alive, their wings had many cuts, and they were used as a decoys.

The material seized

PROTECTED SPECIES

Among the birds that were found, there were also 10 redwings, 8 song thrushes, 2 blackbirds, 2 crossbills, 8 siskins, 8 tree pipits, 1 grosbeak, and 3 chaffinches. Part of the material was in a shed that is apparently illegal. The 70-year-old man has been arrested on charges of aggravated theft and of receiving stolen goods (6 of the birds, 4 redwings, one song thrush, and one tree pipit, were apparently purchased on the black market). He has also been charged with mistreating the animals (because the 3 birds in the metal cages, were left in the open, in cramped conditions, causing visible lesions and bleeding). The charges also include one of violating Law No. 157, of 1992, which refers to the Berne Convention on the protection of European wildlife: grosbeaks, siskins, crossbills, and other birds are included in the list of species at risk.

All of the protected species of birds

What the law says