The brutal killing of one of the last golden eagles in northern Lombardy has shocked environmentalists and highlighted the threat that Italian poachers pose for many protected animal species.
The male eagle was apparently lured to the ground with a sheep's carcass and then sprayed with shot from a gun normally used to kill much bigger animals at close range.
"This is gratuitous brutality," said Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, noting that it was far from an isolated incident and that poachers had killed other protected animals recently.
"These episodes demonstrate that there is still a lot to do in Italy to defend animals, especially rare ones".
At one time, the Golden Eagle lived all over Europe, but in the 20th century there was a great decline in all over the continent and the bird is now restricted to the higher central Appennine regions of Italy and the Alps.
The killing of the golden eagle near Lecco came less than a year after a female of the same species, perhaps its mate, was found shot dead in the same area.
"It's outrageous," said WWF Italian chief Fulco Pratesi, calling on authorities to do everything possible to find the culprit.
Under Italian law, anyone who kills protected animals is liable to arrest and steep financial fines.
But environmentalists argue that more effort is needed to watch over areas where threatened species live and to develop forensic investigative techniques allowing poachers to be identified.
Italian poachers have increasingly targeted rare animals in recent years, especially birds such as falcons, griffon vultures and several types of eagle.
About 7,000 dead or dying animals, many of them rare species, are brought to the WWF's 15 centres around Italy every year.
The Italian office of the WWF has said that, if the killer of the Lecco eagle is identified, the organisation will seek to take part in the court case as a civil plaintiff.
"We hope that this incident will make people a bit more aware," said Lecco's provincial ecology chief Luciano Tovazzi, appealing to anyone with information about the killing to come forward.
