Alarm on the Island of Stromboli: 2.000 Hungry and Aggressive Goats Have Spread Allover

The residents of Ginostra: say: “Absent the regional and national stata. Now the dung ends up in the water.” There are complaints to the Carabinieri and even questions, such as the one submitted by the group ot the Partito Democratico (PD) in the Sicilian Regional Assembly (Ars), which points out that “no useful action has yet been taken to contain and manage the overpopulation of the species in question”.

There live few abitants, but goats, on the other hand, are many and everywhere. On roofs, in the heliport runway, in gardens, in terraces. Almost an invasion: There are about two thousand of them compared to 30 residents.

It happens in Ginostra, a small town on the northwest side of Stromboli, where the population is increasingly exasperated and points the finger at the inertia of the authorities in charge: “We have written but we have not received a response except a continuous passing back and forth between the municipality and the region”, stresses Gianluca Giuffrè, a writer and resident of Ginostra.

The supernumerary of increasingly hungry wild goats, in fact, is increasing discontent on the northernmost island of the Aeolian Islands, already exasperated by administrative inertia after the fire caused, in May 2022, by the filming of the Fiction “Sempre con te,” aired on state TV „Rai“.

The flames destroyed vegetation forcing goats to descend to the valley in search of food.

The encroachment on the built-up area of Ginostra, but also in part of that on the other side of the island, in fact, is putting the population in trouble and highlighting the inertia of politics, to the point that in Stromboli the inhabitants are demanding autonomy from the municipality of Lipari. Same problem in Alicudi, where a plan by the region has gone up in smoke: they have failed to get the goats.

But let's go in order. In May 2022 during the filming of “Sempre al tuo fianco”, a fiction about civil defense starring Ambra Angiolini that aired on Rai last September, a fire broke out, devouring almost all the vegetation on the island and putting even houses at serious risk.

Only the great momentum of the inhabitants, who set to work that night to put out the fire, averted the worst. But the following August 12th, a flood again brought the island to its knees. Arid terrain and the absence of vegetation had aggravated the flow of rainwater downstream, flooding the town. “Since then a national emergency has been declared, 16 million euros have been allocated but we are still at the tenders. Of reforestation, then, not a shadow has been seen”, explains Rosa Oliva, president of the Pro Loco of Stromboli. So it has been the people themselves making do, once again, spreading seeds, risking fines, and hoping to revive vegetation on the island.

Meanwhile, the crisis involved animals as well. Wild goats in search of food have come down to the valley: “We get goat dung on our roofs where we collect rainwater, dung that pollutes the water and we are left without”, says writer Giuffrè. Right there the goats came down literally invading the village, causing all kinds of inconveniences, including the invasion of the heliport and in September, even the assault of a resident.

So from Ginostra have started complaints to the Carabinieri and even questions, such as the one presented by the PD group at the Sicilian Regional Assembly (Ars), which points out that, despite reports from the population, “no action useful for the containment and management of the overpopulation of the species in question has yet been initiated”.

An emergency that would even stem from the 2002 Tsunami, that is, when the population was evacuated and some goats were then left free to graze and never recovered. They have since multiplied, now reaching the monstrous number of 2.000, compared to a winter population of 30 people on Ginostra and more than 500 on the other side of Stromboli.

Subsequently, on December 10th, 2024, an Exploratory Public Notice was issued for the purpose of acquiring expressions of interest to enter into a contract with the Sicilian Region aimed at “exploring the market and verifying the possible availability of operators capable of capturing, collecting and transporting feral goats, which represent a danger to public safety and the protection and preservation of the habitats of the nature reserve of the island of Alicudi”, the PD group writes.

The PD therefore ask to know “for what reasons measures have not been put in place to contain and manage the overpopulation of the domestic feral goat present on the Island of Stromboli, and whether it is not considered appropriate to prepare and initiate a Control Plan expeditiously”.