The Carabinieri NAS (National Anti-Corruption Unit) continues their commitment to animal welfare, both for livestock and pets. In recent months, they have continued the inspections initiated at the beginning of the year in consultation with the Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin. The diverse list of targets reflects the overall scope of the enforcement effort.
Intensive breeding farms, slaughterhouses and kennels have in fact ended up under the magnifying glass of the NAS men. Overall, in recent months, 2.148 checks have been carried out, of which 763 were found to be non-compliant, 530 people were reported to the Administrative Authorities and 156 to the Judicial Authorities. The criminal sanctions highlighted were 392 and 1.017 administrative ones for a total amount of 1.267.600 euros, 887.826 livestock and 590 pets were seized, 108 structures were closed or seized for a total value of 67.344.000 euros. The most recurring offences concerned: failure to correctly identify animals; hygienic-structural deficiencies; failure to comply with the rules on the use of veterinary drugs; irregularities in the protection criteria in breeding and transport and in the rules on the production and hygiene of feed.
Criminal offences were also found, such as animal abuse, unauthorised production and slaughter of meat and abandonment of animals. In the last days of October, moreover, under the impetus of the Health Protection Command, the NAS throughout Italy have further tightened controls. Below are some of the most significant operations.
On October 25, the Carabinieri of the NAS of Caserta went to inspect the conditions of the horses used to pull the carriages rented by the local Royal Palace. On that occasion, the military found that the identification passport of some of the equines in service in the area was not up to date and that, even more seriously, the stable where the quadrupeds were kept was located in an area subject to landscape restrictions. The Carabinieri of the NAS, in agreement with the personnel of the Provincial Health Authority of Caserta, then proceeded to seize 8 horses and the infrastructure, for a total value of approximately 90.000 Euro.
Last July in Naples, at the conclusion of an investigation into the phenomenon of animal abuse by the NAS with the assistance of personnel from the Regional Reference Center for Veterinary Urban Hygiene (CRIUV) of the Campania Region, 47 people were reported, including veterinarians, breeders and owners of pets, for having arbitrarily subjected purebred dogs to "bilateral conchectomy" and "caudoctomy" operations without justified reason and for aesthetic purposes only, as it constitutes a favorable evaluation parameter during dog shows, also filling out false medical-veterinary certification. 15 "pit bull terrier" and "american stafforshire terrier" dogs were seized, for a total value of 44.000 euros, as well as various medical certifications, cortisone drugs and medical devices.
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