"The Brambilla law works and is a great victory for civilization for Italy."
These are the words of the same parliamentarian and animal rights activist who first signed the package of new laws that provide for harsher penalties for those who mistreat animals: Michela Vittoria Brambilla.
The Honourable Member, who is also president of the Italian League for Animal and Environmental Rights, draws up the balance of the new law, which came into force two months ago (1 July), citing over one hundred reports to the association (LEIDAA) and mobilisations by activists in the area and as many interventions by the police .
And among the most high-profile cases, there's one in Sardinia . Under the new regulations, police in Sassari reported the owner of a dog left to skin and bones. In addition to filing the complaint, officers also seized the animal and removed it from its offending owner.
Brambilla's list continues, including the recent case in Chieti , where an owner was reported and fined a thousand euros for keeping his dog on a chain . But, the MP recalls, "many dogs have finally been freed from this instrument of torture."
"The law," Brambilla states, "immediately drew attention to crimes that had been wrongly and for too long considered minor. Since July 1st, in less than two months, national and local news has reported dozens and dozens of incidents: citizen reports, police interventions, prosecutors' reports, first convictions, and administrative sanctions. The numbers aren't final yet—those will be available at the end of the year— but it's clear that this summer the Brambilla law was called into question, invoked, and applied in a significant number of cases, and it represented a real turning point for animal protection in our country . But this doesn't mean," the MP concludes, "that cruelty has suddenly increased: rather, that incidents are finally no longer going unnoticed , that citizens are reporting more, and that the authorities have an effective tool and are using it. Truly a great victory."