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.”

By Max Saltman, Sharon Braithwaite, CNN

Published Jul 23, 2026 6:01 PM EDT | Updated Jul 23, 2026 6:01 PM EDT

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Firefighting aircraft and helicopters try to bring a fire under control on the slopes of Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, Italy, on July 15, 2026. Officials in Calabria, a different region north of Sicily, say arsonists there set wildfires using cats with flammable rags tied to their tails. (Photo Credit: Alberto Lo Bianco/Anadolu/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

(CNN) — 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. He added that other pieces of evidence also pointed to arson, including candles lit among flammable rags and delayed ignition devices.

Firefighters are still working to contain blazes around Calabria’s Pollino National Park, according to Italian broadcaster RAI, which reported Wednesday that firefighting teams have completed more than 160 missions within Calabria in the past 24 hours.

According to CNN’s Italian affiliate SkyTG24, the Italian Association for the Defense of Animals and the Environment has filed a criminal complaint and offered a 1,000 euro reward for information on who may have set the cats alight.

Europe has been consumed by a nasty fire season this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). A wet winter provided new vegetation, much of which became tinder for fires after three successive summer heatwaves. While 2026 has been a better year for fires in Europe overall, the continent’s fire season is still above the 20-year average, EFFIS said in a daily bulletin.

Using cats to spread fire is not a new phenomenon in southern Italy. In 2016, authorities in Sicily blamed the mob for using cats to start forest fires in a national park. The next year, officials said the same tactic was used to set fires outside of Naples, near Mount Vesuvius.

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.

Sergio Nazzaro, a journalist and former spokesman for the president of the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission, said that Mafia groups exploit emergencies through front organizations, “from the labor force that sets the fire to the concession to build on burned land.”

In Calabria, Costarella of the Civil Protection Department warned that stopping arson would take a societal shift.

“We are getting back to work and returning to our posts, but we need a shift in mindset,” he said. “These are inhumane acts. Sadly, men are their own worst enemies.”

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