As of: April 7, 2024, 5:35 p.m
By: Natascha Berger
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The port of Alicudi – instead of streets, the island off Sicily has centuries-old stairs. © IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Dieter Meyer
Alicudi, an Italian dream island for creative people, is fighting a plague. Four-legged friends are destroying vegetation and threatening a UNESCO cultural heritage site. The mayor sounds the alarm and has a plan.
Alicudi – When most people think of the term plague, they probably first think of a mass proliferation of animals such as locusts or mosquitoes. However, on the picturesque island of Alicudi off the northern coast of Sicily, it is a different species that has become a nuisance to residents. Mammals have made themselves at home on the 5.2 square kilometer island in Italy and are even threatening a UNESCO cultural heritage site.
Plague on the Italian island of Alicudi: four-legged friends joined the 100 residents
On Alicudi there is no road network, no ATMs and no tobacco shops. The approximately 100 residents have only had electricity and a telephone network since 1990. The residents' tried and tested means of transport are mules, and the houses on the Italian island are connected to each other via centuries-old stairs.
The island off Sicily is considered a paradise for artists, writers and journalists who have settled on the island or at least partially live there. While there is only one hotel and one bar on the island, Alicudi has one thing more than enough: wild goats.
“Scary packs”: Goat infestation on Sicilian island threatens vegetation and UNESCO cultural heritage
The residents originally bred the four-legged friends to produce their own cheese. However,
as the
Berliner Morgenpost
reports, some of the animals were able to escape. Since then they have lived freely on the Aeolian Islands and reproduced without restriction. So strong that they became a plague. In their search for food, they regularly destroy gardens and vegetable patches as well as native plants. For residents, the sight itself is sometimes disturbing, as they report to the newspaper: “Wild goats often move in packs. They are beautiful, but they are also frightening for us residents.” The packs can consist of five to 25 animals.
In addition, the wild goats pose a threat to the island's dry stone walls, which were built without cement, as the island's Italian mayor told the
Berliner Morgenpost
. The wall, which is typical of Alicudi, has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and around 24 percent are in danger due to the goat plague on the island.
Residents describe the wild goats on their island of Alicudi as “scary”. (Symbolic image) © Ben Allen/dpa
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Alicudi wants to put an end to the goat plague
In order to get the goats off the island, the mayor came up with an unusual concept: the animals would be put up for adoption. Applications must be submitted to the Sicily Region by April 10th. The goal is to get rid of the pest before the summer season.
Some livestock breeders have already shown interest. If not enough animals are caught and taken away, the goat population on the island could increase to 800 in the next three years. The picturesque island would then be “a desert,” according to the mayor’s dark prophecy.
(nbe)