A man in Catania, Sicily, trained his dog to dump bags of rubbish by the roadside in an attempt to evade cameras installed by local authorities to combat fly-tipping, municipal police have said.
The episode was detailed in a Facebook post on the city of Catania’s official page. Accompanying a video of the dog was a remark from the police that ‘inventiveness can never become an alibi for incivility’. The man has reportedly been identified and fined.
Illegal dumping is a major problem in Italy, particularly in the south, with significant environmental and economic costs. In 2023, more than 9,300 waste-related offences were recorded – a 66% increase on the previous year. In response, growing numbers of Italian municipalities are installing surveillance cameras, wildlife-style ‘camera traps’ and smart monitoring systems to curb fly-tipping and misuse of recycling points
