Naples - This morning, the Naples Metropolitan Police, delegated by the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor's Office, conducted a raid on wild animal poaching. Officers executed a precautionary custody order against seven individuals suspected of being members of a criminal conspiracy aimed at the illegal capture and trade of wild animals.
According to investigators, the group had its operational base in Poggiomarino, but its radius of action extended throughout Campania.
At the same time, the Oplonti Prosecutor's Office issued a search and seizure order against over forty suspects in the provinces of Naples, Salerno, Caserta, and Avellino.
Precautionary measures
The alleged leader of the organization was transferred to the Poggioreale prison in Naples, while a second suspect was placed under house arrest. Four other members of the group were ordered to remain in their municipality of residence—three of them accompanied by a daily report to the judicial police—and a seventh was banned from residing in Poggiomarino.
The crimes charged, in addition to the crime of conspiracy, include theft of state property, receiving stolen goods, animal cruelty, and trafficking in protected wildlife under Law 157/1992, for a total of over 80 counts.
The investigation and the illegal trafficking
The investigation, conducted by the Metropolitan Police's Environmental and Anti-Poaching Section with technical support from LIPU, revealed a complex criminal network dedicated to the capture and sale of goldfinches and other protected species.
The birds, captured with nets and traps, were purchased by the association's promoter and resold to collectors and intermediaries at prices ranging from 100 euros to 8.000 euros per specimen, especially after periods of captivity aimed at "refining" their melodious song.
A trade as lucrative as it was brutal, fueled by a network of professional poachers who captured dozens of birds every day.
Cruelty and suffering
From the wiretaps and videos collected by investigators, a picture of extreme mistreatment emerges.
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When their singing performance was not satisfactory, the animals were violently eliminated, thrown against walls or left to starve.
During capture operations, the suspects did not hesitate to kill even birds of prey such as kestrels, which accidentally got caught in the nets, by crushing their heads with stones.
The Black Market Garage
The hub of the trafficking was a garage in Poggiomarino, where the poachers delivered the birds to the leader of the group on a daily basis. Judicial police cameras captured queues of buyers waiting for the shop to open, which had been transformed into a wildlife sorting station.
Every weekend, dozens of customers showed up to buy goldfinches, some already “trained,” others to be trained for subsequent resale at exorbitant prices.
An environmental plague
According to investigators, goldfinch trafficking in Campania is an environmental scourge: thousands of specimens are captured every year, crowded into small cages, and kept in disastrous hygienic conditions.
About half of them die before being released onto the black market, while the survivors end up in the hands of collectors or clandestine breeders.
This practice contributes to a drastic reduction in biodiversity and the impoverishment of regional natural ecosystems.
The kidnapping and developments
During the searches—which are still ongoing—the Metropolitan Police found over 270 specimens, including goldfinches and other protected or exotic species, many of which were blind or harnessed for use as bait.
Forty birds have already been released, while the others will be reintroduced into the wild after a period of veterinary observation.
Dozens of mistreated canaries, cage traps, nets, acoustic decoys, USB sticks with recorded songs, and other typical poaching tools were also seized.
Following the formal procedures, the main suspect was taken to Poggioreale, while the others were subjected to the precautionary measures established by the investigating judge.
Comments (1)
Poaching in Campania is truly alarming. The capture and sale of so many birds is unacceptable. We must protect our wildlife and stop this illegal trade.