Naples
A dog, probably a stray, surrounded by some kids in Ponticelli and horribly tortured. An animal rights volunteer who noticed what was happening immediately rushed over, stopping the minors who, with a knife, had already removed a large slice of skin from the poor animal’s back. The dog is now hospitalized in a veterinary clinic.
Enrico Rizzi, an animal rights activist for over twenty years, well known on social media for his complaints and candidate in the next European elections in the southern Italian constituency (Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria) spoke on the matter for the “Freedom” list.
“What happened in Naples – he declared Enrico Rizzi – it’s just the latest case. Just a few days ago a kitten was found without skin in the province of Alessandria, while in Campania what happened to the poor “lion”, a kitten found in Angri he was also flayed and died, like the Piedmontese one, shortly after hospitalization”.
Unfortunately the list of abuses is much longer. From the dog Aron, set on fire in Palermo last January, to Honey, also in the Sicilian capital, pickaxed and thrown into a garbage container. Rizzi, however, has no doubts about the genesis of such torture. “However particular situations may be – explained Rizzi – there is certainly a climate of impunity experienced by those who carry out such atrocious and increasingly frequent gestures. Law 189 of 2004, which should punish those who mistreat or kill an animal, is not scary and must be urgently reformed, perhaps by people other than those who wanted it and promoted it twenty years ago as the hard-fisted measure that slammed into jail those who mistreated animals. Then – added Rizzi – it was realized that the penalties foreseen by the provision wanted by the Berlusconi government were much lower than those that would have allowed even a mild deprivation of personal freedom”.
In fact, for those who are guilty of such horrendous crimes, there are only “fines” (in the event of a conviction) that is, the pecuniary penalties foreseen for these types of crimes which, in the most serious cases, have been resolved with the notification of a few thousand euros, provided they can be collected.
Rizzi intends to work in synergy with other MEPs sensitive to the issue so that we can arrive at a Directive for true and effective animal protection and not, as has happened so far, with measures played in favor of the lobbies that determine politics, in this case that on animal welfare.
