SHEEP IN HAGLEY PARK

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23800, 20 November 1942, Page 6

SHEEP IN HAGLEY PARK

Sir—lt is to be regretted that the Health Department inspection of Hagley Park was so superficial, and that that authority, from which one would have expected support, thought fit to describe the complaint against the fly menace through sheep grazing as trivial. In support of my complaint, perhaps the Health Department will accept such an authority as L. Hunter, M.Sc., lecturer in Biology and Hygiene, Domestic Science College, Leicester, in a recent publication which states inter alia “Any rubbish which contains decaying matter, or is contaminated with excrement, is a possible breeding ground for flics. The female fly lays up to 720 eggs and often more within three or four days. Their numbers depend on such factors as the availability of breeding places.” Or again, F. C. Bishop. Principal Entomologist, Department of Agriculture, United States, in a leaflet says: “Flies carry disease and parasites such as typhoid, tuberculosis, dysentery, and intestinal worms.” As flies have been known to travel seven miles in search of food, they are well within the radius of the city from Hagley Park, and the fly nuisance is a frequent source of complaint from householders living near the park, there being no doubt at all that the flies are hatched in the park.—Yours, etc., J S B November 16, 1942. IThis correspondence is now closed.— Ed,, “The Press,”]