Garbage accumulated for years (four, it seems) and never disposed of. And for the same period the excrements were not collected: they belonged to 120 sick, malnourished dogs piled up in fenced areas.

It is a nightmare scenario that faced the police who this morning put an end to the well-known story of the illegal concentration camp kennel in the lands of Bruncu Lianu, in the Quartu countryside.

The complaints were made against Anna Rossi, 80 years old, and Fiorella Dellacha, unemployed, 52 years old. The charges against them are of animal cruelty and illicit waste management.

The dogs, of all breeds, sizes and ages, were locked up in metal cages, in "seriously compromised" hygienic-sanitary conditions, according to the Army.

It is not the first time that that structure has hit the headlines. Last January, the Municipality of Quartu launched an «expression of interest aimed at acquiring the availability of national and regional voluntary associations operating in the area for the management of over 100 dogs currently present in a building subject to executive eviction».

Those women could no longer stay on that land: they had rented it, then they had taken in dozens and dozens of animals. And despite the orders of the Court, to which the family that owned the land had turned, they continued to occupy the spaces. Now only they could remain: the dogs - which for the moment remain in Bruncua Lianu - have been entrusted to an authorized kennel in Selargius and to the Municipality of Quartu (Environment sector), which will provide the necessary care and future relocation to suitable facilities. The nightmare, for animals and owners of the areas, is perhaps over.

Enrico Fresu