Southern Italy - The Mafia is using cats to spread wildfires

quote:

---

As wildfires blazed in southern Italy this week, authorities probing for arson found a grisly clue: cats “with flammable-soaked rags tied to their tails.”

“These animals were released into the fields, running around and spreading the fire,” said Domenico Costarella of Calabria’s Civil Protection Agency in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday. He added that other pieces of evidence also pointed to arson, including candles lit among flammable rags and delayed ignition devices.

Firefighters are still working to contain blazes around Calabria’s Pollino National Park, according to Italian broadcaster RAI, which reported Wednesday that firefighting teams have completed more than 160 missions within Calabria in the past 24 hours.

---

quote:

---

Using cats to spread fires is not new in southern Italy. In 2016, the Sicily authorities accused the mafia of using cats for arson in a national park. The following year, officials said the same tactic was used for arson outside Naples, near Vesuvius.

Data from American scientist Lauren Pearson of UC Berkeley, cited by CNN last year, indicate that mafia groups often set forested areas on fire to cement control over territory, sometimes buying back land at high prices after the destruction.

In recent years, some organized crime groups have exploited Italy’s shift to clean energy; one farmer who testified before the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission in 2022 said he was offered solar panels to buy his land after it was burned.

Sergio Nazzaro, a journalist and former spokesman for the president of the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission, noted that mafia groups use emergencies through front organizations: “from the workforce that starts the fire to granting permission to build on burned land.”

---