A cattle-rancher has been found guilty of the 2021 slaughter of more than 150 penguins eggs and chicks in the south of Argentina.
Ricardo La Regina, 36, was found guilty of animal cruelty and causing environmental damage at the end of an unprecedented trial in Chubut Province.
The slaughter took place in an area adjoining the Punta Tombo–Punta Clara reserve on the Atlantic coast, a natural sanctuary and nesting site for one of the biggest colonies of Magellanic penguins in the world.
On Thursday, Judges Carlos Richieri, Eve Ponce and Laura Martini ruled that La Regina was “criminally responsible for aggravated damage in ideal concurrence with animal cruelty.”
In the trial, which started October 28, the court heard how La Regina had crushed hundreds of Magellanic penguin eggs and chicks, a protected species in Argentina, in order to open up a rural road next to the Punta Tombo nature reserve.
Using a backhoe excavator, and without authorisation, “he removed soil … thus running over eggs and chicks which were in the way,” prosecutors alleged during the trial.
La Regina destroyed at least 175 nests, with an average of two eggs per nest, while creating the road and installing an electrified fence without the appropriate permits.
Prosecutors formally accused him of being criminally responsible for the “death of numerous penguins at the Punta Clara ranch, located to the north of the Punta Tombo reserve, during the period between August and December 2021.”
“There was a total disregard for the biodiversity of the place, since it was understood that the accused was aware of the damage he was causing in pursuit of his economic objective, which he put above the serious environmental damage he caused,” said the prosecution.
‘Important precedent’
The judges described the case as setting “an important judicial precedent in the care of the environment.”
“This is an unprecedented case that affected the environment, biodiversity, flora and fauna in a sector that should be protected,” the provincial Public Prosecutor's Office agreed in a statement.
It will now be up to the judges to pass down a sentence and determine La Regina’s penalty. The grounds for the ruling and his punishment will be announced at a hearing next Monday, November 11.
In television and radio interviews, La Regina said that he was forced into action because “the state was absent for over 10 years,” ignoring his petition for a road to be opened up and new clarification over the boundaries of the terrain he manages and the nature reserve.
Defence lawyers have offered earlier to make available 560 hectares of land adjoining the Punta Tombo reserve to the national government, along with an agreement of a protection zone in Punta Clara in order to settle the trial.
The court rejected the offer.
The original complaint was filed by the provincial government, which was then joined by the Association of Environmental Lawyers and NGOs such as Greenpeace and the Fundación Patagonia Natural.
Greenpeace representative Matías Arrigazzi described the case as “a milestone for environmental justice and the protection of penguins and nature.”
“This is a historical precedent which, we hope, will lay the foundations for the implementation of stricter policies and actions to prevent future attacks on animals and the environment,” said the biologist in a statement issued by the NGO.
Environmental lawyer Lucas Micheloud, co-director of the Asociación Argentina de Abogados Ambientalistas, described the ruling as “historic” and “a decisive turning point in the fight against environmental impunity in Argentina.”
– TIMES/NA/AFP
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