The mayor of Italy’s secluded Alicudi island, overcrowded with wild goats, has offered to give the animals up for adoption.
Riccardo Gullo proposed the novel idea after a new census of the animals showed that they outnumbered the island’s year-round population of 100 six-fold.
Once a tourist attraction and dexterous navigators of Alicudi cliffs, the wild goat population in Alicudi has soared in recent years. They leave their natural habitat to stray into people’s homes, causing environmental and economic damage.
Demands for a solution to the troublesome goats prompted the “Adopt a Goat” initiative as an alternative to killing the Alicudian wild goats.
“We absolutely do not want to even consider culling the animals, so we are encouraging the idea of giving them away,” Gullo told reporters. “Anyone can make a request for a goat, it doesn’t have to be a farmer, and there are no restrictions on numbers, he noted.”
Under the initiative, prospective adopters have until April 10 to file a request. Gullo said he had receiving phone calls from interested persons including a farmer who produces ricotta cheese — a delicacy made from goat's, sheep's or cow's milk.
Paolo Lo Cascio, a former councillor, first warned of the menace of the growing goat population in 2008.
“There needs to be a solution as the threat to the island’s vegetation is serious,” Cascio told reporters. “But Alicudi is a very complicated island, first you have to access it and then try to capture all the goats. There should have been an intervention 10 years ago,” he added.
The goats were brought to the remote island two decades ago by a farmer who intended to breed the animals there. But the breeder’s business plan fell through, and he set the goats free to fend for themselves.