PLAGUE OF RATS.
INVASION OF A TOWN, - . Great alarm has been caused at .the important South African railways junction of Do Aar by an invasion of thousands of rats, which lately entered the town from the surrounding plains and were dying everywhere. One De Aar householder alone swept out 40 dead rats from his dwelling. The Government laboratories at Johannesburg announced that it is virtually certain that the rats were dying from plague, though final tests were still being made. Medical authorities hurried to De Aar, where a great trek of rats was found, to be in progress from west to east. Travellers reported passing through great droves of the rodents, numbering countless thousands, over a wide area. The municipality organised gangs of men, equipped with sticks, shot guns and lanterns, who all day and all night long patrolled the veldt west of De Aar endeavouring to stem the tide of rat invaders before they entered the town.
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Otago Daily Times, Issue 20611, 9 January 1929, Page 2
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158PLAGUE OF RATS. Otago Daily Times, Issue 20611, 9 January 1929, Page 2
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