Help Save the Mouflons of Giglio Island

Description of the Petition

INTRODUCTION

We ask that the project "Life LETSGO GIGLIO Less alien species in the Tuscan Archipelago: new actions to protect Giglio island habitats", conceived by the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, which foresees the eradication and the killing of all the Mouflons on Giglio Island, be stopped immediately. The Park Authority, having defined the Mouflon as an "invasive alien species" has begun the process of extermination of all Mouflons. They also plan the use of snares. The massacre of the Mouflons is not acceptable.

THE HISTORY OF THE MOUFLON ON GIGLIO ISLAND

For Giglio Island, the Mouflon has great naturalistic, historic, and cultural relevance. The Mouflon was introduced to Giglio in the Franco Reserve around 1955 - over 40 Mouflon generations ago - thanks to an excellent conservation project created by Professors Alessandro Ghigi (father of numerous National Parks in Italy), Augusto Toschi, Renzo Videsott and Professor Ugo Baldacci who saved the Mouflon from extinction and allowed for the repopulation of wildlife reserves and parks throughout Italy, where this marvelous mammal can still be found. An important observation to note is that from the time the Mouflon were brought to Giglio, they have remained genetically pure given that there has been no opportunity for the population to interbreed with herds of modern-day sheep, unlike the populations of Mouflon in Sardinia, Corsica, and Cypress that have experienced interbreeding.

TO HONOR, NOT EXTERMINATE

The importance of the Mouflon conservation project in the 1950s on Giglio is represented by the statue of a Mouflon placed on the summit of the property in the Franco region of the island, where the reserve was once located. This monument, positioned at the summit of the cliff on the coastline in the thickest forest on Giglio, gives testament for centuries to come that in that place one of the most beautiful and archaic creatures was saved and provided safe haven. The Mouflon is a part of the rich history of Giglio, a history to safeguard and recount with renewed pride, not one to erase as the Tuscan Archipelago National Park with the support of the local administration intends to do. In the 66 years of its presence on the island, the damage to local gardens, unfenced vineyards and, as the Park claims, to local habitat, has been inconsequential and cannot in any way justify the irreversible measures that they are taking, which is to say, the slaughter of the entire Mouflon population.

STOP THE SLAUGHTER & FIND ANOTHER SOLUTION

We are therefore asking that the aforementioned project is immediately stopped and that another solution found that allows for the survival of the Mouflon on Giglio, as they estimate that there are only 25-40 specimens on the island, a testimony that they have established a balance that maintains a low number of individuals within the herd, so low, in fact, that the Park’s proposed extermination is absolutely unacceptable. As an alternative, if the proper authorities found it necessary to remove the Mouflon from Giglio Island, it could be accomplished without harming the animals, transporting them to another wildlife reserve, but absolutely not through exterminating the entire population as foreseen in the grim project devised by the Tuscan Archipelago National Park.