Residents call for a state of emergency Plague of mosquitoes in Tuscany - and now the threat of giant spiders

A plague of mosquitoes is plaguing the Tuscan town of Orbetello. In a petition, residents are calling for a state of emergency to be declared - and are already warning of a further threat.

The Tuscan town of Orbetello is plagued by a massive mosquito invasion. Residents are suffering so badly from the situation that a petition has been launched calling for a state of emergency to be declared.

"We can't open the windows. We are locked up at home, like in the time of Covid. Our children go to school and breathe in air full of mosquitoes," the initiators write in the petition. A normal life is out of the question.

But that's not all - according to the petition, there is another animal problem: "If the dead mosquitoes are eaten by spiders, there will also be the phenomenon of abnormally large spiders." It is time for the region to intervene.

Mayor announces measures

The infestation is not just a nuisance, but the result of ineffective management of the lagoon. The petition states that humans have caused this natural disaster due to wrong and neglected decisions.

A natural disaster already occurred in the Orbetello lagoon last summer , when thousands of fish floated dead in the water. The petition received almost 10,000 signatures within a few days, reports the Italian news agency Ansa. The mayor of Orbetello, Andrea Casamenti, has already announced "immediate" and "extraordinary measures" on Facebook.

The municipality will provide 50,000 euros for an analysis of the density of larvae in the sediments of the lagoon in order to find out how the phenomenon will develop in the coming weeks.

Orbetello is located in the south of Tuscany. Due to its location on a headland, the town is extremely popular with tourists.