21/04/2016

(21 April 2016)

AGROPOLI (SA) – WITH SOME HORSES REMOVED FROM THE PREMISES, THE ASSOCIATIONS CALL ON THE AUTHORITIES TO SEIZE THE REMAINING STARVING AND MISTREATED HORSES AS A MATTER OF URGENCY.

The Delegation of Battipaglia LNDC, IHP, Progetto Islander and the Hon. Bernini, who have already documented the unhealthy conditions in which more than twenty horses and donkeys were kept, take note of the intervention of the relevant veterinary health authorities of the region, the ASL, and the NAS, who on 15 April removed some of the animals from the premises, but report the urgent need to seize the remaining animals who are still in the hands of the owner.

The story is years old: in Agropoli, Laureana Cilento, in the town of Case Bianche in Salerno province, a pseudo-breeder keeps horses in a state of general neglect, and many of them with no passport or microchip to identify them. These animals frequently break out in search of food, even wandering around the town streets with the obvious risk of harm to the general public. In February 2015 the Carabinieri bliitzed the place and ’confiscated’ 38 horses being kept in illegally built stables. In spite of this ’seizure’ and a 52,000€ fine for a number of misdemeanours and transgressions, the horses actually remained in the possession and care of the owner.

Following numerous complaints from members of the public, on 6 April the Battipaglia National League for the protection of Dogs and the Hon. Paolo Bernini (M5S), IHP Italian Horse Protection Onlus, and Progetto Islander, with the backup of the Agropoli Carabinieri carried out an inspection of the premises to ascertain the condition of the animals. The volunteers found a grave case of mistreatment, with many horses suffering from malnutrition, many with laminitis, tied up so that they were unable to move or lie down, and almost all of them without water or food and standing in totally unacceptable amounts of muck.
What is more, of the 38 animals originally ’confiscated’, only about 20 were found to be present, as the others had apparently been stolen, the theft being reported by the owner some time after the original intervention. Given these circumstances the associations have requested the authorities to order an immediate removal of the animals in order to provide the necessary veterinary treatment and care.

After long days of waiting, and thanks to the ceaseless efforts of the associations, at this point joined by Legambiente, on 15 April the horses were transferred to Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Province of Caserta), this transfer being effected by the Agropoli Carabinieri and the NAS with ASL vets of the surrounding areas. The associations were not permitted to attend the transfer of the horses, but it was possible to ascertain that of the 21 horses seized only 17 were removed, the other four having vanished into thin air.
Some horses remain on the premises, approximately ten including two foals who have been separated from their mothers, who were transferred. These horses remain in the hands of the owner. Removing these remaining horses requires urgent action on the part of the relevant authorities, and the associations have formally presented to these authorities a serious complaint of mistreatment.

In addition to all this, on 16 April many members of the public presented complaints, with photographs, concerning the presence of about a dozen horses roaming a main road, near the turnoff to the Trentova beach, thus highlighting a practice of abandoning animals in that area.

The National League for the Protection of Dogs, the Italian Horse Protection Onlus, Progetto Islander and Legambiente are working together to get all these animals finally into safety, and the whole illegal structure shut down definitively.


PHOTO: IHP and PROGETTO ISLANDER