Get you up to speed: Arsonists use cats with rags tied to tails to spread Italian wildfires | News World
Investigators in southern Italy are examining potential arson after reports that live cats were sent into wildfires with flammable rags tied to their tails. The Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment has filed a criminal complaint and is offering a €1,000 reward for information regarding this matter.
Authorities found glass bottles containing flammable liquid, indicating deliberate actions to ignite fires in dry areas. Firefighters have been tackling the ongoing wildfire in Tintwistle Moor for over a month, with efforts expected to continue into early next week, while a nearby major road remains closed.
Authorities in southern Italy are investigating potential arson linked to recent wildfires, with the Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment filing a criminal complaint and offering a €1,000 reward for information. In the UK, the Welsh government has activated crisis management arrangements due to a shortage of aerial firefighting support, while a wildfire in Derbyshire continues to burn, affecting over 600 hectares.
What remains unclear — Authorities have not disclosed how many individuals may have been involved in the potential arson.
Authorities investigate use of cats to spread wildfires in southern Italy
Wildfires have ravaged much of the UK and Europe this week, and southern Italy is no exception.
But authorities are now investigating whether the flames may have been spread deliberately – and in a rather harrowing way.
Investigators believe arsonists sent live cats into the blazes ‘with flammable-soaked rags tied to their tails’.
The Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment has filed a criminal complaint and is offering a €1,000 reward for information about who sent the cats into the flames.
Wildfires in Palermo, Sicily (Picture: Alberto Lo Bianco/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Firefighters and police tackle a blaze near Rome (Picture: Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)
Costarella said authorities also found glass bottles fitted with wicks and flammable liquid, which they say were used to set off fires in areas covered in dry grass.
It’s not the first time cats have been used as living ignition devices in the region.
In 2016, Italian police said the mob had used cats to start fires at a national park near Mount Vesuvius.
This year, fires have broken out across Italy, including near Rome and Sicily’s capital of Palermo.
Firefighters in the Calabria region alone put out more than 160 fires in 24 hours, Italian broadcaster RAI said on Wednesday.
Aircraft and helicopters battle wildfires in Sicily (Picture: Alberto Lo Bianco/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Scorched earth left behind after a wildfire in Stefano, Sicily, in July (Picture: Reuters)
Wildfires have broken out across Europe in recent weeks after relentless heatwaves created the perfect warm, dry conditions for the flames to spread.
In the UK, Wales has activated ‘crisis management arrangements’ amid concerns there are not enough helicopters to tackle fires.
Although wildfires are still burning in the north and south of the country, the Welsh government said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had told it there was ‘no aerial support available for anywhere in the UK’.
Meanwhile, an ongoing wildfire in a Derbyshire moorland has scorched more than 600 hectares since it began a month ago – the equivalent of 900 football pitches.
The blaze, which started at Tintwistle Moor near Glossop, is still not extinguished as firefighters aim to manage hotspots and keep flare-ups under control.
Firefighters are expected to continue working at the site into early next week. The nearby A628 will remain closed in both directions between the A57 at Hollingworth and the A616 at Flouch until at least Monday.
The flames come following three record-breaking heatwaves in May, June and July, which saw the implementation of hosepipe bans and other safety measures.
Some 2,700 excess deaths were attributed to the heat in England and Wales over the course of the first two heatwaves.
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