The Decree, published on the Official Journal on July 16th, 2016, was long awaited by those who deal with the problem of the fauna poisoning, because the expiry of a previous decree occurred in February 2016 had left a significant legal vacuum.
Since 2008, several ministerial decrees have been extended or renewed to dictate important guidelines for the prevention and the control of the phenomenon of the toxic substances use, but for the first time the ministerial decree of 2016 officially recognizes the important role played by the Anti-poison Dog Units during the toxic material removal phase.
One of the main points of the ministerial decree is the definition of the roles and duties of the subjects involved, namely veterinarians, health services of the local health units, mayors and the "Istituti zooprofilattici sperimentali" (Experimental institutes for animal health).
It is particularly important that the Istituti zooprofilattici sperimentali, that analyze the probably poisoned baits or carcasses, can supply a report of the inspection analysis within 24 hours and of the necroscopical analysis within 48 hours.
The results of the laboratory tests have to be supplied within 30 days after the delivery of the sample.
If the necroscopical analysis does not exclude the suspect poisoning or the presence of toxic substances, the mayor receives the report of the istituto zooprofilattico sperimentale and immediately gives instructions to start an investigation in collaboration with the authorities in charge, and he arranges for the contaminated place to be reclaimed.
The innovation of this last decree is that the reclamation works can be carried out with the collaboration of volunteers, "guardie zoofile" (special guards in charge of the animal protection) or anti-poison dog units and organs of the judiciary police.
This operation also provides the installation of panels and the intensification of the supervision. The results achieved by the first two Anti-poison dog units - created by the Gran Sasso-Laga Park thanks to the LIFE ANTIDOTO Project (www.lifeantidoto.eu) in collaboration with the State Forestry Corps - and the participation of the Ministry of Health in several initiatives within the same project, made it clear for the Ministry and for many other Italian entities, that the Anti-poison dog units are a fundamental instrument to limit the effects of the use of poison against the fauna.
Such an awareness resulted in the establishment of many other Anti-poison Dog Units all over Italy, like the six Units activated with the LIFE PLUTO project.

Link al testo dell'Ordinanza Ministeriale
http://www.trovanorme.salute.gov.it/norme/dettaglioAtto?id=55445&completo=true