Killing of animals aggravated by cruelty and dangerous explosions in an inhabited place: these are the crimes that the Avezzano prosecutor accuses the 57-year-old of San Benedetto dei Marsi accused of having killed the Amarena bear, putting her two cubs to flight. The International Animal Protection Organization (Oipa), which immediately after the incident presented a complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office for the killing of an animal, comments: «Justice will take its course, even if it does not return Amarena to her children and to this life. But whoever killed her must pay.” Amarena, one of the symbols of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (Pnalm), was shot dead on the night of August 31st on the outskirts of San Benedetto dei Marsi (L’Aquila). The perpetrator of the crime was immediately identified. On 5 September the Pnlalm informed that the two cubs were alive and that, after being separated for a short period, they were reunited. On November 3, the Park then announced that the two orphans, aged around 10 months, were well.
The notice of closure of the investigation comes after the prosecutor examined the ballistics report which confirmed how the suspect had shot to kill, not by mistake or to scare the animal. The report states that it was an intentional shot, fired from close range. Amarena was hit by a rifle shot with a 12 gauge bullet that hit her in the side, piercing her lung. «The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the bear was harmless at the time of the shot», clarifies the Oipa. «Amarena is yet another victim not only of the social dangerousness of individuals, who are also allowed to carry weapons, but also of the climate of hatred towards large carnivores fomented in Italy by some political exponents. We hope that an exemplary sentence will be reached against the person under investigation. We will be a civil party in the trial.”
Satisfaction with the closure of the investigations was also expressed by the Honourable Michela Vittoria Brambillapresident of the Parliamentary Intergroup for Animal Rights and Environmental Protection and of the Italian League for the Defense of Animals and the Environment: «As announced immediately, Leidaa will be a civil party in any trial. Even if the procedure will not bring the life back to Amarena, one of the symbols of the Abruzzo Park, it is right that those who committed the crime should pay such a heinous and senseless acta killing inspired by the climate of war against large carnivores and by the trigger-happy rhetoric.”
