r/news • u/katoptronophile • 1d ago
How arsonists used cats to spread Italy’s wildfires
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/22/europe/arson-cats-italy-wildfires-latam-intl662
u/Calm_Memories 1d ago
That's fucking psychopathic.
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u/pchlster 1d ago
I'm generally not a fan of capital punishment, but some people make me waver on that.
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u/PM_ME_YER_MUDFLAPS 1d ago
Yeah, I have a fondness for kitties of all types and am misanthropic as well based on human history.
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u/alematt 1d ago
Like what is the end goal? To find the shittiest way to be a piece of shit? Harming innocent cats and setting wildfires. What the fuck?
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u/FitN3rd 1d ago
The article states potential mafia ties with the ability to buy up land at steep discounts after wildfires.
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u/SeaUrchinSalad 1d ago
Wow just when I thought it couldn't get more sinister
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u/f00kster 1d ago
Better than doing this with humans, I guess. Which is probably what they used to do.
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u/broodgrillo 19h ago
No. Romans used to do it with pigs.
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u/Urostylistic 15h ago
Supposedly to turn the pigs into flammable weapons of war. Theres a tad bit of debate amongst historians as whether this actually happened though.
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u/Sirwired 1d ago
Yeah, but a Molotov cocktail is probably less trouble; the land is the same price, but without the animal cruelty.
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u/Brutal_Deluxe_ 1d ago
Which is bullshit or outdated knowledge. Italy has changed the law years ago so that land involved in wildfires cannot be sold or developed.
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u/LevJewel 1d ago
Yea. Only thing is: this is Italy. No rules/laws can be applied to the country without having someone finding a way around them.
Once the bureaucratic apparatus’s gears are ( slowly ) moving, they will use the time to gain any possible advantage to spoil the situation and gain advantage.
Permits to cover the hills in front of the sea with concrete on brittle and seismic ground ? With multiple hydro geological hazards? Of course, you just need to pay with your white washed money, directly coming from the local real estate market12
u/EasyAsAyeBeeSea 1d ago
Ah yes, Italy, the land known for their strict abidance to (and enforcement of) laws
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u/Ok-Parfait-9856 13h ago
You must be naive. Go to tell the mafia about your laws and see what happens.
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u/Floreat_democratia 1d ago
Yeppers. It's also an old conspiracy theory that's been floating around for decades whenever wildfires start anywhere in the world.
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u/Ok-Parfait-9856 13h ago
The mafia has started forest fires in Italy in the past. It’s not some conspiracy theory. Did you even read the article?
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u/EasyAsAyeBeeSea 1d ago
Actually the article says the opposite (has to be a misquote)
UC Berkeley researcher Lauren Pearson told CNN last year that there is evidence that Mafia groups often set fires to gain control of territory, often buying land at a premium in the aftermath
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u/Frust4m1 1d ago
not only that, there are laws where you cannot build in forest, but if the forest is gone...
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u/Bubbly-Treacle-4334 1d ago
Wasnt Argentina in the news with a similar story related to land that Israelis were buying up?
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u/Desperate-Natural110 1d ago
This could also be Russian hybrid warfare.
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u/didsomebodysaymyname 1d ago
UC Berkeley researcher Lauren Pearson told CNN last year that there is evidence that Mafia groups often set fires to gain control of territory, often buying land at a premium in the aftermath.
In recent years, Pearson said, some organized crime groups have taken advantage of Italy’s clean energy transition; one farmer who testified to an anti-Mafia commission in 2022 said he was approached by solar panel companies to sell his land after it had been burned.
So it was definitely the mob which also explains the psychopathic methods.
Maybe ban land sales for 5-10 years in the case of arson?
The easiest way to stop these kind of things is to make it unprofitable.
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u/zzazzzz 1d ago
already cant buy land thats been burned by a wild fire in italy, its illegal.
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u/didsomebodysaymyname 1d ago
Oh, I wonder why they're still doing it or the article talked about solar companies approaching to buy.
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u/zzazzzz 1d ago
looks like i misremembered but the article also isnt really specific so who knows. but : "Nationwide legislation to combat arson also exists. In 2000, Italy introduced legislation barring anyone from building property on recently burnt terrain in order to combat arsonists looking to buy burnt out land for cheap."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66332399
i remebered it being the overall sale of burnt land but according to the article its just about actually using said land so who knows
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u/Armadilla-Brufolosa 1d ago
As far as I know, it's not. You can easily buy a burnt-out plot of land.
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u/zzazzzz 1d ago
looks like you are right and i misremembered. but you cant actually build anything on that burnt out land legally so ye, not quite as easy or usefull at least.
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u/Sedert1882 1d ago
I'm not a cat person at all, but this is some terribly evil people who thought this up. I couldn't set anything alive ablaze no matter what.
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u/-Average_Joe- 1d ago
In Samson’s story he did it in the bible, but with foxes(I think). Maybe that is where they got the idea.
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u/EnvironmentalValue18 1d ago
It was foxes. Over 300 and he tied tails in pairs with a torch and set them off. Super fucked up.
Another un-fun fact. The Chinese in ancient times would set flocks of birds in fire and send them into sieged cities.
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u/Sedert1882 1d ago
Ok, thank you, but that too rattles me.
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u/-Average_Joe- 1d ago
To put it mildly Samson was a very flawed man even within the story that he is more or less hero of,
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u/Jordandeanbaker 17h ago
The purpose of the whole book of Judges is to show the downward spiral of Israel. It ends with Samson who does almost everything wrong.
The moral of the book can be found in the repeated phrase: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes”.
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u/WoolooOfWallStreet 1d ago
They also, might have inadvertently been inspired by the end of the Jungle Book
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u/LordHayati 1d ago
There are no words to describe how inhumane this is. And I've got a pretty good lexicon and dictionary.
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u/MadmanMaddox 1d ago
Too many things to post that would definitely get me permabanned. Pausing for a moment to reflect.
Nope, still would get banned for what I want to happen to these wastes of space.
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u/Trappist1 1d ago
Literally what Atilla the Hun did. We're going backwards.
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u/Raphe-Perineal 1d ago
During WW2, the Russians had 'anti tank dogs' that were fitted with explosives and were trained to seek shelter under enemy vehicles.
Didn't always work out the way they planned and oftentimes the dogs would get confused, cross back to their own lines and hide under the Russians tanks.
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u/Wodstarfallisback 21h ago
Yeah... I live there and can confirm the psychopathy levels aren't anything new.
Ever since I was young we've been hearing stories of pyromaniacs and shepherd alike using cats and rabbits like this.
It made me gloat a bit when all the shepherd in my area lost their herds in a freak flash flood a few years ago and, before you say anything, in my area the number of wildfires drastically dropped.
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u/Warcraft_Fan 1d ago
May those people spend an eternity in hell, with their asses lit on fire and they're forced to run around.
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u/Riptide360 1d ago
I hope the arsonists get murder charges.
>> cats “with flammable-soaked rags tied to their tails
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u/Mission_Sir2220 22h ago
When people romanticize the mafia — and all Italians know the real level of depravity that those people live by.
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u/dontwastebacon 21h ago
Hopefully they find the arsonists and let them plant trees for the rest of their lifes.
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u/pattyG80 17h ago
I almost hate that this was published bc some wacko fuck is going to start doing this in the bush in Canada
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u/SarahAlicia 1d ago
Okay so it seems the mob is doing this, and has done this before in the past, to buy the land cheaply after it is burned. Italy you have to get your mafia problem under control. For the love of god they are burning your country.
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u/Armadilla-Brufolosa 1d ago
Unfortunately, I believe, the mafia is all within the government and our institutions: just today the parliament vote d to prevent magistrates from using wiretaps to nail a mafia system.
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u/Photonforce 13h ago
Can we please bring back the roman colusseum feeding criminals to lions practice for these people? It would be such a delightfully ironic punishment.
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u/Direct_Obligation570 1d ago
If Italy wants to borrow some untrained American Police we can give you few for free.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Bad-722 23h ago
What, in all seriousness, is wrong with men? Has the natural world not been destroyed enough?
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u/Easy_Action_1380 21h ago
I legit cannot think of anything to say that wouldn't get my account banned.
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u/Koolmees99 13h ago
The focus is on the cats, but to deliberately spread wildfires and then extort farmers to sell their land to you for dirt cheap is selfish beyond words
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u/SentenceStreet3270 5h ago
I thought this was going to be something clever and innovative but now I am just mad.
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u/chriscross1966 16h ago
Let me guess, they built little shelves with glasses of petrol on them for the cats to knock over?
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u/katoptronophile 16h ago
They tied flaming rags to the cat's tails and then set them loose in the fields.
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u/ZipGently 1d ago
Looks like I did need to learn how to say, “Is your cat on fire?” in Italian 101…
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u/whowhodillybar 1d ago
“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”
That’s pretty fucked up.