Three persons have been detained in southern Italy's Calabria following the discovery of hundreds of dead and alive protected dormice during a police raid on a cannabis plantation, local media reported.
According to wildlife preservation organization LIPU, the 'Ndrangheta mafia organization serve dormice, a protected species, during reconciliation feasts designed to restore peace between warring families.
Police reportedly discovered many cages of live dormice being fattened up for slaughter, in addition to 235 carcasses placed in a freezer.
Poaching is rampant in Calabria's Aspromonte highlands, with hunters setting thousands of traps in the woods and illegally selling captured dormice to mobsters and restaurants, according to reports.
Despite the fact that catching and eating dormice is illegal, they are a favorite delicacy in parts of southern Italy, not only among the mafia, and some restaurants reportedly serve them up in secret, keeping their fluffy tails intact to distinguish them from other mice.
The 'Ndrangheta, situated in the province at the tip of Italy's boot, has eclipsed Sicily's more well-known Cosa Nostra to become the country's most powerful mafia organization, with operations all over the world.