34 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



and catch a surprising number of victims until 

 all are frightened away. 



Cooperation necessary to subdue the pest. 

 Little that is really effective can be done, how- 

 ever, without cooperation in each district. 1 

 To destroy the animals on the premises of a 

 single farmer in a community has little perma- 

 nent value, since they are soon replaced from 

 near-by farms. If, however, the farmers of 

 an entire township or county unite in efforts to 

 get rid of rats, much more lasting results may 

 be attained. Such organized efforts repeated 

 with reasonable frequency are very effective. 



Cooperative efforts to destroy rats have 

 taken various forms in different localities. In 

 cities municipal employes have occasionally 

 been set at work hunting rats from their re- 

 treats with at least temporary benefit to the 

 community. Thus, in 1904, at Folkestone, Eng- 

 land, a town of about 25,000 inhabitants, the 

 corporation employes, helped by dogs, in three 

 days killed 1,645 rats. A better example is re- 

 ported from India, where cooperative work 



1 See Cooperation among Farmers, by Prof. John Lee Coul- 

 ter. In this Library, 1911, 75 cents. 



