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This article explores the official recognition of a citizens’police force for the protection of animals and the environment, which constitutes an important European precedent to follow. We examine the close relationship that is developing in Italy between activism and legality. The interplay between the activity of these guards and the law can be seen in two ways: on the one hand, the institution of the guards arises from the legal activity itself; on the other hand, this type of institution affects the relationship that is established in the territories between legality and the protection of birds. This reveals a relationship with the law that is not the monopoly of the authorities alone, since it involves citizens who make use of the legal framework, following a dynamic in which the law is no longer simply an instrument of state power but an issue in power local relationships.