Are you kidding me? Italian island inundated with offers to adopt its roaming goats

When the mayor of a remote Italian island grappling with an overpopulation of wild goats offered to give the animals away, he anticipated a smattering of interest from farmers on neighbouring isles who were perhaps keen to boost their production of ricotta cheese.

- Angela Giuffrida

Riccardo Gullo came up with the novel idea after a census estimated the number of wild goats on Alicudi, the smallest of Sicily's Aeolian archipelago, was six times the island's year-round human population of 100.

But as news of his "adopt a goat" initiative spread, he received a flurry of offers from around the world - not just Europe, but also the US, and even from an animal lover in Nigeria.

Gullo will need to be judicious in his selection as the demand for the goats now far outweighs supply.

"The total from all the offers was for 1,900 goats," he said. "The response has been great, but we're going to have to turn the majority down as the number of goats on the island is believed to be 600 or so."

His more pressing challenge is how to capture the animals and transport them off Alicudi, an island measuring 5 sq km with a dormant volcano that is a two- to three-hour boat ride from mainland Sicily.

The person tasked with the job is Giovanni Dell'Acqua, the director of rural development in Messina for Sicily's regional council.

"It's not going to be easy, but we need to move quickly and effectively," he said.