On 4 and 5 September 2019, the Anti-Poison Dog Units (UCA) of the LIFE PLUTO project and the other ones operating in Italy took part in an updating meeting held in Castefulsano (Rome).

The threat represented by the illegal use of poison for wildlife and, in particular, for necrophagous birds of prey, was the subject of a training dedicated to the technical and scientific staff of the Italian protected areas, which took place in Rome on 11 June 2019.

More than 700 inspections have been carried out by the Anti-poison Dog Units in the framework of LIFE PLUTO project since the beginning of their activity in July 2016, and up to the end of 2018. With 90 positive inspections, they continue to reduce the poison impact on the fauna, that appears to be frequent and extended.

On the 7th of June 2018 in Pianola (L'Aquila) had been held the last of four award ceremonies for the contest launched in the field of the educational project LIFE PLUTO and that had involved 450 students of the Parco Gran Sasso-Laga area.

On the 11th and the 12th June, the Carabinieri Department for Biodiversity of Castel di Sangro and of the natural reserve Feudo Intramonti, in Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise, will host a monitoring inspection by the European Commission to check the development of the project LIFE PLUTO.

On 20 April 2018 the Gran Sasso-Laga National Park hosted a team of the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary visiting Italy to deepen their knowledge on the LIFE program and improve their ability to develop successful projects in the framework of this program based on knowledge and experience made available by other European beneficiaries.

No less than 35 school classes of the Gran Sasso-Laga National Park area are taking part in the educational project "Pluto, un amico a quattro zampe", designed to make kids reflect on the danger that poison baits pose to the conservation of many species of mammals and birds of prey.

At the beginning of April, one of the six Anti-poison Dog Units of the LIFE PLUTO project and the Anti-poison Dog Unit of the LIFE Medwolf project carried out a joint inspection at a game reserve in the province of Siena.

In the framework of the LIFE PLUTO Project, the Carabinieri department for forest, environment and food safeguard (CUTFAA) has created a promotional brochure on Anti-poison Dog Units, as well as a technical document to help its staff manage poisoning episodes and use the Dog Units.

Thanks to the activity of the six Anti-poison Dog Units, created in 2016 by the Carabinieri Forestry Corps in the framework of the LIFE PLUTO Project with the financial support of the European Commission, more and more episodes of poison use are being detected as time passes. Some of them took place in the Province of Arezzo.