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WORLD NEWS Monday 7 october 2019
Tens of thousands of

goats munch Greek

island into crisis

By ILIANA MIER out on Greece's tourism
Associated Press boom. Mountain herding is
SAMOTHRAKI, Greece (AP) still a way of life here and
— With oak and chestnut despite trying for three de-
forests, waterfalls and rug- cades, regional authorities
ged coastline, Samothraki have found it hard to build
has a wild beauty and a re- a local consensus on how
moteness that sets it apart to deal with the issue.
from other Greek islands. The goat population,
There are no package meanwhile, soared fivefold
holidays here or even a to an estimated 75,000 by
reliable ferry service to the the late 1990s. Some parts
mainland. Island authorities of the countryside were
hope to achieve UNESCO simply nibbled away.
Biosphere Reserve status. The goat numbers have
Yet still, the natural environ- since dropped to below
ment is under threat from 50,000 as there is little left
an insatiable assailant. to graze on. But this has left
Goats outnumber hu- the island in a trap. Most of
man inhabitants 15-fold its goats are malnourished In this Sept. 8, 2019, photo, goats walk by a car on a road near Kato Meria village, on Samothraki
and they are munching and too scrawny to be used island, northeastern Greece. Associated Press
stretches of Samothraki commercially for meat, an-
into a moonscape. After imal feed is too expensive
decades of trying to find to maintain a sustainable
a solution, experts and lo- business and much of the
cals are working together soil is too depleted for trees
to find a 21st-century way to grow back.
to save the island's ecology At the same time, prices for
and economy. wool, leather, meat and
Semi-wild, the goats roam milk have dropped, lead-
across the island, which is ing Samothraki's farmers to
roughly three times the size grow increasingly desper-
of Manhattan, and can ate.
be spotted on rooftops, in Yiannis Vavouras, a sec-
trees or on top of cars as ond-generation goat farm-
they scour the landscape er, says many island farm-
for anything to eat. Their ers have few alternatives.
unchecked overgrazing is "Most of us are ready to
causing crisis-level erosion. give up. If I had another
Torrential rains two years job, I would drop the goats,"
ago swept away the is- he says, speaking over the
land's town hall and sev- noise of jangling goat bells.
ered its roads. There were "It doesn't make enough to
no trees or vegetation left buy you a coffee."
on the steep, goat-eaten Herds soared due to Euro-
hillsides to stop the mud- pean Union subsidies, un-
slides caused by the down- der a system that critics say
pour. was poorly monitored and
"There are no big trees to lacked any long-term plan-
hold the soil. And it's a big ning. It now may have to
problem, both financial be reversed as a livestock
and real because (the reduction appears inevita-
mud) will come down on ble, along with grazing lim-
our heads," says George its. "It is possible to do things
Maskalidis, who helps run in a more sustainable way,"
Sustainable Samothraki As- Maranon says. "That might
sociation, an environmen- mean fewer goats but that
tal group. could actually work out
Samothraki, in the northern better for the farmers."
Aegean Sea, is a two-hour Having a tight-knit commu-
ferry ride south of Alexan- nity, she says, will also help.
droupoli, a Greek city near "Everyone here is connect-
the country's border with ed to the herders in some
Turkey. way, so this issue affects ev-
With just 3,000 inhabitants eryone. To live off the land,
and hard to access, the you have to keep it alive,"
island has largely missed she said.q