diff --git a/plugins/network/multi_tcp_ping b/plugins/network/multi_tcp_ping
index a3e93732..1ab779a4 100755
--- a/plugins/network/multi_tcp_ping
+++ b/plugins/network/multi_tcp_ping
@@ -72,7 +72,14 @@ USA.
 
 use strict;
 use warnings;
-use threads;
+
+# This evil "eval" is to make Travis CI able to test the plugin syntax
+# without having a perl built with threads.
+#
+# Also: The use of interpreter-based threads in perl is officially
+# discouraged.
+eval 'use threads; 1;' or die 'Could not use threads';
+
 use Net::Ping;
 my (%defaults, @hosts, $cmd_arg);