On Wednesday 11th September, the volunteers from Salviamo l’Orso, Rewilding Apennines, and the Abruzzo Ornithological Station, searched some woods in the municipal area of Introdacqua for snares used by poachers for trapping wildlife indiscriminately. Fortunately, no trap was found last Wednesday. Stefano Orlandini, Chairman of Salviamo l’Orso, declares: “The three associations have decided to take action after discovering in June the carcass of a wild boar which had been strangled by a snare in this recently-inspected area. We want to prevent other animals from dying in an equally atrocious and useless way, since the preys are often left to putrefy, and give a tangible signal to counter this illegal and cruel practice that can threaten even species on the brink of extinction like the Marsican bear”. Unfortunately, the cases of bears killed by snares are not uncommon. In November 2016 Salviamo l’Orso had reported to the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park’s scientific service, a bear specimen with a snare around its neck. The bear was caught in September 2017, medicated, and freed by the Park staff. However, in May 2018 the ALMNP surveillance service found in the Picinisco territory some remains which were attributed to bears, which according to some evidence, such as the clear peeling of the bark at a nearby tree, would have been killed by a snare. The episode is reported in the 2018 Marsican Bear Report.
The volunteers of the aforementioned associations intend to repeat this poaching-prevention action in other seasons both in the same place and in neighbouring areas.
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