their new corporate logo...
Posted on 07/14/2007 3:14:18 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Mass murder of mice not enough
Created: 2007-7-14 0:00:01
Author:Alice Gu
ABOUT one million mice, up to 40 tons, have been poisoned to death in the past 20 days in the Dongting Lake area of central China's Hunan Province. However, authorities said the dead mice were not buried and their remains could be seen almost everywhere.
Villagers from the 20 counties in the lake area have used everything from clubs and shovels to kill mice scurrying towards homes while others used fishing nets to stop the rats.
However, people later realized mice poison might be the oldest but most efficient weapon to repel the rodents.
"We spent 18,000 yuan (US$2,378) to buy 6,000 kilograms of rice and 320 grams of poison," Xu Hongbing, Party head of badly-stricken Binhu Village, told the Oriental Morning Post.
"We mixed the rice with the poison and began to scatter it on cropland on June 23, the third day of the invasion," Xu added.
Mice corpses could be found everywhere and some villagers even threw them into the Dongting Lake. Authorities have warned of the poison creating unintended damage due to improper handling of dead mice.
The Binhu Village office has received reports of at least 1,100 cats and dogs dying after eating the poison or poisoned mice.
Meanwhile villagers are risking their own health by disobeying orders to wear gloves and rain boots to avoid direct contact with mice, Xu warned. "Villagers are only concerned about killing the mice and aren't thinking about their own safety," he said.
An expert with the Ministry of Agriculture told China Central Television that the battle has only just begun as "only 15 percent of total mice in the lake area have been killed."
With the lake's water level rising, more mice will be forced from their burrows on islands and onto cropland, which can threaten human health, Guo Yongwang said in the report.
A short rainy season and a small dam built at the upper stream of the Dongting made the area a hotbed for the rodents.
"They have more space to dig holes and there is an abundant food supply on wetlands," Xu said.
The invasion is the biggest since 1982, when the provincial government began keeping records.
Mice were forced to the croplands of the 20 counties in the lake area when the Yangtze River flooded on June 21, raising the water level in the Dongting and submerging mouse holes on islands in the lake.
The Dongting Lake area has been hit by 10 mice invasions since 1982.
Ping!
The poison is a stupid idea if it is killing the cats. They need to clean up the poison and bring in more cats, lots and lots of cats.
Mass “murder” of mice? Since when is exterminating vermin to be equated with “murder?”
On the other hand, I think pet food from China might see a sudden drop in price as they find other ways to dispose of the dead mice.
In related news, children everywhere are devastated as entire cast of recent film “Ratatouille” go missing. Film at 11.
cant even imagine in what importer food staple will see this protein addition
LLS
THAT is the chicom national symbol!
LLS
When I was a kid we moved into a rented house. It had a mouse/rat problem. My mother put down rat poison. It got rid of the rats fine. Howesver, it stank of rotting rats for weeks. Since then I have never used rat poison.
Cats are a good idea but that will lead to a cat problem down the road. Probably rabies too. This reminds me of the children’s story about the king that had a mouse so he got a cat, then a dog.... and so on.
When I was a kid we moved into a rented house. It had a mouse/rat problem. My mother put down rat poison. It got rid of the rats fine. Howesver, it stank of rotting rats for weeks. Since then I have never used rat poison.
Cats are a good idea but that will lead to a cat problem down the road. Probably rabies too. This reminds me of the children’s story about the king that had a mouse so he got a cat, then a dog.... and so on.
Howesver = However
Have not tried this but an old non-toxic bait is to mix sugar and flour with Portland cement. The rats eat it, get thirsty, and develop a fatal bowel blockage. Anybody know if this works?
the old "Picture is worth a 1000 words" concept... 8^)
Exactly so, Chinese mice will find their way into our food.
I’ve gone to some trouble in the past month not to buy even a pair of scissors made in China, never mind food or toothpaste. I will never knowingly buy anything from there.
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