"Have your rat spaded or neutered today!"
Posted on 04/03/2007 3:55:21 PM PDT by Coleus
New Orleans, La. -- Today, after learning that New Orleans plans to poison rats living in the city as part of its "Rat Busters" program, PETA fired off a letter to Mayor Ray Nagin urging him to work with PETA to develop a humane, effective program to permanently reduce the rat population instead. PETA points out that poisoning rats is not only cruel but also ineffective. Rats from surrounding areas will simply move in to fill the void left by those who were killed, and as long as habitats such as abandoned buildings and food sources such as garbage are accessible, rats will thrive.
PETA also points out that rat-control expert Dr. Bruce Colvin had success in reducing Boston’s rat population by studying rats’ habitat preferences and breeding patterns. PETA offers to work with New Orleans officials to implement a similar program. Possible steps the city could take include the following:
· Bring together city officials, scientists, and community activists to develop a plan of action for the city.
· Create a "Rat Coalition" with the city’s hotel and restaurant associations in which all participants agree to keep the area rodent-proofed.
· Impose fines on hotels, restaurants, and apartment buildings for improper sanitation.
"Mayor Nagin needs to control rat populations with effective, humane means—instead of by cruelly poisoning them," says PETA wildlife biologist Stephanie Boyles. "New Orleans is a city that can overcome any adversity—even a ‘rat problem’—with creativity and heart."
PETA’s letter to Mayor Nagin follows. March 21, 2007
The Honorable C. Ray Nagan , Mayor of New Orleans, New Orleans City Hall, 1300 Perdido St., Rm. 2E04, New Orleans, LA 70112,
Dear Mayor Nagan:
PETA is the world’s largest animal rights organization, with more than 1.6 million members and supporters. We have recently learned that New Orleans is planning to poison rats living in the city as part of its "Rat Busters" program. Not only is poisoning rats cruel, it also won’t solve New Orleans’ rat infestation. More rats from surrounding areas will simply move in to fill the void left by those who were killed. As long as garbage is plentiful and habitats like abandoned buildings are attractive and accessible, rats will continue to thrive in New Orleans.
Rat-control experts like Dr. Bruce Colvin have repeatedly demonstrated that large-scale abatement programs do nothing to address the long-term problems associated with rat populations in urban areas. By studying rat habitat preferences and breeding patterns, Dr. Colvin was able to develop a strategic plan that successfully reduced the rat population in the city of Boston. After implementing Dr. Colvin’s action plan, administrators in Boston reported a 95 percent decline in the amount of poison used and a significant reduction in the number of rats trapped—as well as a reduction in the number of rodent sightings at construction sites.
PETA would be happy to offer New Orleans our assistance in developing an effective, humane program to reduce the rat population permanently. Possible steps include the following:
· Organize a "Rat Summit" to bring together city officials, scientists like Dr. Colvin, and community activists to develop a plan of action.
· Create a "Rat Coalition" with the city’s hotel and restaurant associations.
· Impose fines on hotels, restaurants, and apartment buildings for improper sanitation.
Thank you for your time and consideration. Please let us know how we can help. I can be reached at 757-622-7382.
Very truly yours, Stephanie Boyles, M.S., Wildlife Biologist Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue & Information Department
The suggested solution was to drive the rats up the road to Frederick County and release them "in the country where they belong." Needless to say, cooler heads prevailed before Frederick declared war on Takoma Park.
PETAs should be ground up for rat food.
“For a minute there I thought PETA was protecting Pelosi, Murtha, Dean,” etc. Me, too - the original members of the Rat Coalition.
Rats should be packed up and shipped to PETA households.
Dumb loosers.
So what did the geniuses do with the rats?
Of course what are the chances that the room temperature IQ’s in the Nagin administration could actually do this? Zero. Zip. Nada. They can’t manage anything else, why should they be able to manage this:?
Ray Nagin heading up a ‘Rat Coalition’ sounds about right to me. BTW, I thought all the rats in New Orleans relocated to Houston after Katrina. Most of them are still there sponging off the US taxpayers.
“Create a “Rat Coalition”
Isn’t that what “Rat” Emmanuel and Charles “the fruitbat’ Schumer did in Fall 2006—isn’t that how the Democrats seized power...
by building a Rat Coalition??
I support the humane poisoning of RATs....
PETA members are some of the worlds biggest nut jobs all pulled together who need thier own little island where they can “adopt” the rats and let them live with the infestation since they expect everyone else to cater to the disease carriers. I’d tell them, you want to save them, come get every one of them, take them to PETA members’ houses and make sure you keep them in cages, feed them, etc so that they will not be around those of us who choose to live disease free.
Re post 7, Hey man, mosquitoes have to eat too, you know. You wouldn’t want them to go to bed hungry. What kind of beast are you? :)
Please tell Nagin can manage to make ONE good decision?
“Rats are VERMIN. They have no rights.”
How dare you!
it’s those durn unborn babies who should be squashed and killed!
Just tell PETA they are doing really late-term rat abortions. After all, according to PETA’s president, “A rat is a cat is a dog is a boy.” They are also for human population reduction. Ergo, we can reduce the rat population without problems.
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