HOW TO DESTKOY RATS. 



19 



Cooperative efforts to destroy rats have taken various forms in 

 different localities. In cities municipal employees have occasion- 

 ally been set at work hunting rats from their retreats, with at least 

 temporary benefit to the community. Thus, in 1904, at Folkestone, 

 England, a town of about 25,000 inhabitants, the corporation em- 

 ployees, helped by dogs, in three days killed 1,645 rats. 



Side hunts in which rats are the only animals that count in the 

 contest have sometimes been organized and successfully carried out. 

 At New Burlington, Ohio, a rat hunt took place November 26, 1866, 

 in which each of the two sides killed over 8,000 rats, the beaten party 

 serving a Thanksgiving banquet to the winners. 



There is danger that organized rat hunts will be followed by long 

 intervals of indifference and inaction. This may be prevented by 

 offering prizes covering a definite period of effort. Such prizes 

 accomplish more than municipal bounties, because they secure a 

 friendly rivalr}^ which stimulates the contestants to do their utmost 

 to win. 



In England and some of its colonies contests for prizes have been 

 organized to promote the destruction of the European house sparrow, 

 but many of the so-called sparrow clubs are really sparrow and rat 

 clubs, for the destruction of both pests is the avowed object of the 

 organization. A sparrow club in Kent, England, secured the destruc- 

 tion of 28,000 sparrows and 16,000 rats in three seasons by the 

 annual expenditure of but £6 ($29.20) in prize money. Had ordi- 

 nary bounties been paid for this destruction, the tax on the com- 

 munity would have been about £250 (over $1,200). 



SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 



The following are important aids in limiting the numbers of rats 

 and reducing the losses from their depredations : 



1. Protection of our native hawks, owls, and smaller predatory 

 mammals — the natural enemies of rats. 



2. Greater cleanliness about stables, markets, grocery stores, ware- 

 houses, courts, alleys, and vacant lots in cities and villages, and like 

 care on farms and suburban premises. This includes the storage of 

 waste and garbage in tightly covered vessels and the prompt disposal 

 of it each day. 



3. Care in the construction of buildings and drains, so as not to 

 provide entrance and retreats for rats, and the permanent closing of 

 all rat holes in old houses and cellars. 



4. The early thrashing and marketing of grains on farms, so that 

 stacks and mows shall not furnish harborage and food for rats. 



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