Poaching incident in Prato
Newsletter 10/10/2017
Santora is a one year old male Northern Bald Ibis. In 2016, he was hand-raised and released in Tuscany. This year, Santora started to migrate between the wintering site in Tuscany and the breeding site in Salzburg. At the end of September, Santora was on his way back towards south. On September 27th at 09:00 am, he departed from his night roost near Prato, heading to a site 2 km away were he used to look for food since his arrival a few days ago.
Soon after, Maximilian Henrich, a member of Waldrappteam, was alarmed by the electronic device which was fixed on the back of Santora. With support of the regional police, he found the tool in a garbage container in the centre of Prato. The ribbon, which fixes the device on the back of the bird, was cut off. It was obvious that someone removed it from the bird and tried to hide it. This person seemingly did not realize that our LIFE+ team was already alarmed.
It is obvious that the bird was illegally hunted. This was also the assumption of the police, who immediately started their investigations. We repeatedly lose birds in this region of Italy due to poaching. This is also why we make a lot of effort to develop technical devices, which immediately alarm us if an accident happens. The case of Santora confirms that this technology can be of high value against environmental crimes. It ensures that a member of our team or a volunteer is on the poaching scene as soon as possible. This way we can provide the police with information that substantially increases the probability that the perpetrator can be identified and sued.
Illegal hunting in Italy during the autumn migration is a major threat for the Northern Bald Ibises and other endangered bird species. A hunter who shot two Northern Bald Ibises in the province of Livorno in 2012 was sentenced to a fine of 2.000 Euro and his hunting license was withdrawn. In 2017, the Supreme Court confirmed the judgment, what makes it to an essential precedent against environmental crimes and paves the way for a civil damage claim. The LIFE+ Team is confident that also in the case of Santora the perpetrator can be identified. In this case, we hope for a further a conviction, based on the precedent case. We would also sue for compensation of the damage, which is estimated with 11.200 Euro.
Picture: Maximilian Henrich, member of the LIFE+ team, hands over the GPS device to the police. The device from Santora was found in a garbage container in the centre of Prato.
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