The dogs are all still there - around 120 - piled up among the waste and decay. Undernourished, and exhausted from constant barking under the scorching sun.
"They're fine here," repeats one of the two women who in recent years have set up an illegal kennel in the Santu Lianu area. But it is enough to take a quick look around the house to notice that the situation is truly at the limit , as emerged from the recent raid by the carabinieri of the summer station of Flumini who seized the area and reported the two women - mother and daughter - for mistreatment of animals and illicit waste management.
After the intervention of the police, the two women barricaded themselves in the house. While the Municipality - with the Environment sector de facto judicial custodian of the 120 animals in the illegal kennel - is responsible for the difficult management of the matter, from the placement in authorized structures, up to the search for further resources in the budget.
«We have been aware of the situation for over a year and from the beginning we have worked in every possible way, in close agreement with the Civil Court and with the Local Health Authority, to find solutions in a situation that was and remains very difficult», explains the deputy mayor with responsibility for the Environment Tore Sanna. «The dogs and the land are not our property - he recalls - furthermore, in addition to the judicial profile inherent to the ongoing eviction, there are other problems such as the absolute lack of collaboration on the part of the owners of the animals. Now we hope that the intervention of the Carabinieri and the judiciary will make things easier for us in a general framework which however remains complex and which requires even more coordinated intervention with all the authorities involved or interested", adds the deputy mayor.
Furthermore - following the reasons that led to the seizure of the area - the mayor issued an ordinance which requires «within 20 days to proceed with the removal and correct disposal of all waste and excrement present in the land, in order to restore normal hygienic-sanitary conditions". The ordinance also requires "to provide for the nutrition and cleaning of the dogs kept in the area, guaranteeing them food and water".