RAIDS BY RATS

Evening Star, Issue 22261, 12 February 1936, Page 11

RAIDS BY RATS

MENACE AT ENGLISH ZOO An expert rat-catcher is now on the staff of Whipsnade Zoo. He makes his rounds with gun and dog almost every day at dusk, writes Craven Hili, in the ‘ Evening Standard,’ London. His “ bag ” is frequently 50 rats. Last year 2,022 were caught in the park, an increase of nearly 1,000 on the previous year. And they are still increasing. The authorities have one consolation; the rats help considerably to solve the feeding problem at the Zoo reptile house in Regent’s Park. All rats killed at Whipsnade are sent up to London for this purpose. The bulk of the rats given to the snakes on Friday afternoons are Whipsnade rats. . In other ways, however, this increase in the rat population is being viewed by the authorities with a good deal of concern, because of the damage done to buildings and to the stock. The rats of Whipsnade are very quick to discover in which parts of the estate they can pillage at will and which parts it is healthier to avoid. Recently three Australian black swan cygnets were set upon by a hungry horde of rats and murdered during the temporary absence of their parents; and one day last summer a tortoise had his feet nibbled while he slept. Again, not long ago, a rat got in among the marmots and killed one of these animals in fight. A keeper told me; “ The rat menace here is a very real one, for they are spread over a much wider area than in Regent’s Park. Their cunning is astonishing. Even babies just out of the nest very soon come to know the enclosures in which they would receive short shrift, from the inhabitants.

“ Whipsnade Wood, for example, where there are 40 wolves, is now absolutely clear of rats. If one goes inside it is chased and killed by the wolves. The lion pit, on the other hand, has many rats. The lions seem to regard the vermin as beneath their notice. “ In tiger doll rats are constantly being killed. Tile tigers are much quicker than the rats themselves arc, and even, more cunning. Dead rats have been found in the burrows of the porcupines, too, showing that there had been a battle in which the porcupines won.

“ Some of the rats shot by the ratcatcher recently have been enormous specimens. One looked almost ns large as a rabbit. It measured 18in and weighed over 21b.”