Every year, hundreds of house and wild animals die in Italy after ingesting poison baits. Victims even include rare and protected wild animals, such as bears and wolves, and many birds of prey like griffon vultures and red kites.
The LIFE PLUTO Project consists of several synergistic actions to prevent and combat the use of poison in Central and Southern Italy, thus helping to preserve protected species that are susceptible to this threat.
Main actions include the creation and use, by the State Forestry Corps, of six Anti-poison Dog Units, an essential instrument to detect poison baits and carcasses, and to rapidly and effectively remove them.
The LIFE PLUTO Project also aims at training staff to adequately manage poisoning cases, at involving institutional stakeholders and at sensitising local population to encourage reporting of suspected cases.
In the Gran Sasso-Laga National Park, the LIFE Project will make it possible, among other things, to carry out specific activities to prevent the use of poison, such as the setting up of feeding stations for birds of prey (“carnai”), to be supplied in collaboration with local livestock farms.