Genga – Today the CRAS Marche announced the necropsy examination carried out on a roe deer found dead on 12 May 2024 in the Colleponi di Genga area, from which it appears that the animal died due to a road collision. No wounds from firearms were highlighted, therefore the cause attributable to poaching activities is excluded.
On the same date, a press note was published in newspapers and online sites attributing the death of the specimen to suspected poaching activity, in an area in which such incidents were on a worrying increase. This statement was supported by citing two episodes of poaching against two wolf specimens, which occurred in 2022, one of which occurred along the SP14 between Arcevia and Serra San Quirico, where a wolf hit by a bullet in the chest ended up dying in the middle of the road and hit. While a few months earlier a specimen of the same species, equipped with a radio collar, had been found lifeless along the SS Arceviese, strangled by a snare to illegally capture wild boars.
Regarding the cases reported in the articles, for correct information, the following is represented:
The wolf hit along the SP14 between Arcevia and Serra San Quirico was, in that case too, dead due to a road accident without any evidence of gunshot wounds and therefore of poaching being found on the carcass.
However, the hypothesis of poaching was confirmed in the case of the radio-collared wolf found in a snare to capture wild boars in January 2022. In that case, as per the press note released on 01.21.2022, the Forestry Carabinieri of the Arcevia Unit intervened with timely investigations which allowed to identify the person responsible for the killing, a citizen resident in Arcevia, against whom searches and seizures of traps similar to those that had killed the wolf were carried out as well as numerous portions of wild boar meat held without any title.
The subject was referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Ancona. The trial ended with a plea bargain in March 2023. The subject was given 6 months of imprisonment and a 300 euro fine, with also compensation from the civil parties, in this case WWF Italy.
Lt. Col. Simone Cecchini, SV Commander of the Ancona Forestry Carabinieri, ensures that all reports or evidence attributable to poaching activities in the Ancona area will be addressed with the utmost attention, therefore citizens are invited to communicate any problems found in the sector.
