
On June 16th 2013, there are eye witnesses to the fact that fox hunters in the Italian Province of Rimini, while hunting for a fox at night within the boundaries of the village of Gemmano, shot a domestic cat (Sandy) with a dum dum bullet from an automatic carbine, while the cat was in a back garden of a house (perhaps on a roof).
This act, if it can be proven, was a criminal act on two counts:
- “it is forbidden to shoot a hundred and fifty meters from the houses” and.
- under Article 638 of the criminal law it is a crime to harm or kills pets, punishable by imprisonment.
It also necessary for people who wish to hunt during the hunting season in Italy to make an application for an impact assessment, to see what effect the hunting will have on the community. As I understand it, the Institute for the Protection and Research (ISPRA) makes the assessment. Was this done?
It seems that not much, if anything, has been done to make the local residents feel secure in their homes. To have bullets flying around at night is alarming for the inhabitants and fatal for this cat.
There is a petition and the petitioner (Carlo Morigi) states:
“As protective and precautionary measures for all the citizens, we ask to know whether some legal action against the shooter has being taken; specifically if the weapon (a gun) has been confiscated and consequently if the hunting licence of the forester (ranger) belonging to a corps of authorized and appointed volounteers has been withdrawn by the competent authorities. ANYONE LIABLE FOR RISKY AND UNSAFE BEHAVIOUR INSIDE A COMMUNITY MUST BE PUNISHED BY THE LAW, SEVERELY.”
The petition is on this page (in Italian).
Farmers should do more to protect livestock. Live and let live.