5 - Countering Wildlife Crimes in Italy: The Case of Bird Poaching

Summary

Introduction

With 60,000 animal species and 12,000 vegetable species, Italy is one of the European countries with the richest biodiversity and with extremely high levels of endemism (ISPRA 2020). However, this heritage is considered at risk for many species of flora and fauna. Wildlife crimes, and particularly poaching in its various manifestations, are currently considered one of the main threats to the survival of rare or endangered species (Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea Protection of Italy 2017; ISPRA 2020).

Notably, wildlife crime can cause severe social and environmental harms – ranging from the loss of biodiversity and the potential transmission of zoonoses or other diseases, to abuse or cruelty towards animals and even security threats (see, for example, Benton 2007; White 2011; Sollund 2012, 2013a, 2013b; Wyatt 2013a, 2013b; Lynch and Stretesky 2014; Lavorgna 2015; Gore et al 2016; Haenlein 2016; van Uhm et al 2021). Nonetheless, and despite the relevance of many types of wildlife crimes in Italy, overall wildlife crime has received limited attention by researchers, activists and policy makers in the country, with a few notable exceptions (first and foremost the annual ‘Zoomafia’ reports published by the NGO LAV – see Troiano (2022) for the latest one at the time of writing – or the activities promoted by the public research institute Istituto Superiore per la Promozione e Ricerca Ambientale ISPRA; see Lavorgna (2022) for a recent academic book focusing on wildlife trafficking in Italy).

This review chapter will focus, in particular, on the analysis of criminal phenomena linked to animal poaching (bracconaggio) in the Italian context, broadly defined as the act of hunting or abducting animals illegally (in line with Sollund 2011). As poaching can manifest itself very differently depending on the animal poached, for the sake of brevity we will mostly use bird poaching as a case study. Currently, 67 species of birds (about 25 per cent of those surveyed) are considered at risk of extinction in Italy, ten of which are at a critical level (IUCN 2020). The situation slightly improved over the last decade (for example, from IUCN 2012); but overall it remains problematic, especially considering the impact of climate change on wildlife populations.