rat on the rise

[M. Demetrius]

I guess you're right, Brian. Yep. Except for the fact that they can spread fatal diseases to my domestic animals who contact them, I guess you're right...I should let them shred the insulation on my house, chew the wires to my power tools, tear open and scatter anything that's stored in sacks, bags or boxes and eat the food I buy for my animals. They kill chickens and consume a large number of eggs and baby chicks, and can easily climb the 2 meter fence I put around the hen yard.

If I could, I'd like to send them all to your house, where you could deal with them in the way you see fit. Over here in Texas, they're just pesky varmints, and nowhere near endangered as a species...unless they get into my henyard, but then they're only endangered as individuals. Here, at least, we have the legal right to defend our livestock and poultry from predators. Sometimes I exercise that right.

[Caius Fabius]

I enjoy having raccoons eating my catfood, keeps it from getting stale. They will also come up and take chicken bones from my hand, and I have helped nurse a couple back to health. No need for shooting them, they are usually timid, unless you corner them. The mothers take excellent care of their babies. Do you blame them for protecting their children?
If you live in the country, you should be willing to share with the original inhabitants, and put your chickens and other animals where they don't tempt those neighbors you are unwilling to feed.
Opossums are also fun to have as guests, and they have very soft fur. The skunks are bolder, but have curled away for the winter, in most cases, (including one sleeping under a box in my garage).
I enjoy sharing my life with the various wild animals, as well as my zoo of cats, dogs, sheep, llamas, and cattle. The coyote singing at night is better than the roar of traffic, and knowing there is a panther in my woods always adds a bit of thrill to my evening walks. Seeing deer eating hay with my cattle puts me on the Christmas mood, and having a living Christmas tree with birds of all shapes, and colors is much better than a plastic something inside the house.
Happy Holy Days, share with your neighbors, even the human ones....

[Caius Fabius]

BTW Raccoons and Shunks eat mice and rats.....

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Well, when the other 'people' share the parking spaces out fron instead of leaving massive gaps, I'll start sharing with them.....

As for pests, well, some people keep rats and mice as pets.....so who is being cruel? You have to have a balance. We used to shoot gophers out on the farm, they dig holes that cripple cattle, destroy crops, etc....

And they are by no means an endangered species.

And I love animals too, so I would hardly call myslf cruel, but if you say so....

[john m roberts]

Have you ever seen a full-grown Asian gray rat (the most common kind in the US)? They're not much smaller than cats and way meaner. Cats kill mice, not grown rats. People used to keep specially-bred terriers to kill rats. It's the lack of natural predators and the abundance of food that caused the rat population explosion. Back home in Asia they had cobras and mongooses to contend with. They're mainly nocturnal so hawks rarely catch them, though a big owl can do the job, especially on the younger ones. Those pet rats and lab rats are different breeds, much smaller.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I heard about the ones in Brazil from my folks, they are not the domesticated type either....But rats are rats....I don't care if some people keep them as pets, I would not hesitate to get rid of them if I came across them. Nasty, evil me.... :roll:

Same with cockroaches, seagulls(which are a protected? species)
Bloody shi%hawks more like. :o , and a few other pests.....

On the other hand, cougars and other large cats and mammals should be protected, if people want to go hiking in the wild, they have to accept there are wild animals around and take the necessary precautions(ie go out in full roman combat gear), but when an animal reaches a population level where they become an epidmic of sorts, well.....

[M. Demetrius]

Some say it's a question of who is boss, GJC. I just do what I think right on my property, and let others do as they will on theirs.

As for the chickens, man, I finally just gave up. I built a large pen with a six foot fence around it for them, a henhouse made of plywood and studs, that I closed up at night, and they tunneled under, chewed through the plywood, and everything else to get in and eat the hens, chicks and eggs. Actually, I'd bought bevy of hens to lay eggs for ME to eat. It's not cost effective, but it's better tasting, and possibly healthier. But after being cleaned out of 200 dollars worth of hens for the fourth time, I declared mortal war on the perpetrators. I'd like to have chickens again, but now, things having changed financially, I can't afford to build the fortress it would take to keep them safe. I've pretty much given up on having any animals to husband around here except a Sheltie and some cats. The cats sometimes bring in a half a field rat for us to, uh, examine, I guess. They tend to eat the head end first. :?

A deer (none around here, too many people too close nowadays) feeding with my goats (third herd killed by a pack of roaming dogs) would be nice and picturesque. A coyote in the goatyard dragging away a kid would do so at his own risk, baby coyote pups back home or not. Living near a large city has its downside: people tend to drop off unwanted dogs, mostly of the 70+ pound variety, and those dogs go semi wild, and will kill a whole herd of goats if they can get in the pens. They don't kill for food, they just kill. There are a few folks around here who go hunting for those dog packs and nobody asks them questions, since we're all glad not to have the trouble they bring. Sounds draconian, I guess, but reality bites sometimes. I've probably lost about two thousand dollars in animals alone to various predators' appetites. I'm just tired of paying for their sport and food.

I've lost cats, goats, sheep, chickens (some of those pretty fancy breeds)and sleep over wild dogs. I had one of my dogs a few years ago get bitten pretty badly by stray dogs. Who pays that vet bill? Yo esto aqui. Gee whiz, if someone doesn't want their dog any more, why would they think we would want it running around our property?

[Caius Fabius]

Feral dogs? Target practise. I have one feral dog that I didn't kill. Sho became a good farm dog, I ran out of bullets and decided to name her "Lucky". The rest became compost, they killed my sheep, and what not. They are dumped by heartless people, to starve slowly or survive, and most die of starvation, I just euthanize them for free, instead of making their ex-owners take them to the vet. (I'd rather punish the ex-owners).

Keeping chickens? Chicken wire top to bottom, and then a 3 foot space and a second layer of chicken wire. I just laugh at any snake, coyote, raccoon or possum who gets one of the stupid chickens after that, I figure they worked hard for their dinner. Had a snake who got in, but couldn't get out after eating. I relocated him to the north 40. I figure I'll lose chickens and eggs as a part of doing business where I live.

Eggs aren't all that healthy anyway!

[Caius Fabius]

Humans are the least endangered species. Anything I would add to that statement would get me banned from RAT. :twisted:

[Gaius Decius Aquilius]

Gee whiz... and to think this post was originally on rats... I know they are thieving vermin, and they give people the creeps and all, and they can be vicious, especaily when cornered, or you stand in the way of something they want. But I simply just want to see them voted out of office, or denied any excessive CEO bonus. Maybe it would help to eradicate the breeding grounds by closing all the law schools and MBA programs...

Ralph