546 MAN CONTROLS HIS ENVIRONMENT FOR WEALTH 





mm 



m-m 









plague. The fighting 

 of rats alone, in the 

 epidemics of plague in 

 this country, has cost 

 millions of dollars. 

 They can be and must 

 be exterminated. 



Practical Exercise 25. 



Make a report on methods 

 of control of rats and mice 

 in your community. Con- 

 sult Lantz, House Rats 

 and Mice, and Farmers 

 Bulletin 896, United States 

 Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



Bureau of Biological Survey CatS. Many Cats 



The rat is an enemy of the farmer. Notice the damage «^re kept as DetS and 

 that he has done in this corn crib. " ' F > 



many run wild. Cats 

 of both kinds do much injury by killing birds. Forbush, former 

 state Director of Ornithology of the State of Massachusetts, esti- 

 mated that they killed in New England as many as 1,500,000 birds 

 annually, while Fisher says 3,500,000 birds is the annual toll for 

 New York State. While this number seems almost impossible to 

 believe, 226 cats under observation in Massachusetts have been 

 known to kill 624 birds in one day. Cats also spread disease germs. 



Animals that prey upon man. The toll of death from animals 

 which prey upon or harm man directly is relatively small. Snakes 

 in tropical countries kill many cattle and not a few people. The 

 dreaded cobra of India has a record of over 250,000 persons killed 

 in thirty-five years. The loss of life from snake bites should soon 

 be much reduced, thanks to the manufacture of antitoxin serums 

 made to counteract the venom of poisonous snakes. 



Alligators and crocodiles feed not only on fishes, but often 

 attack large animals, as horses and cows, and even man. The 

 crocodiles of the Ganges River in India levy a yearly tribute 

 of many hundred lives from the natives. 



Carnivorous animals which are not domesticated, such as lions 

 and tigers, still inflict damage in certain parts of the world, but as 



