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May 9, 2010

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Rats devastate grassland

A PLAGUE of rats is threatening more than 10 million hectares of grassland in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said yesterday.

In Inner Mongolia, 5.82 million hectares of grazing land have been overwhelmed by the burrowing rodents, said Zhang Zhuoran from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.

In worst-hit Urad Prairie in Bayannur League, burrows pockmarked the bare, yellowish-brown earth after rats chewed through large areas of grass.

Dry weather is to blame for the rat plague, Zhang said.

In Xinjiang, 5.58 million hectares of grassland have been affected.

Authorities are combating the rats with poison sprays, sometimes using airplanes.

To make matters worse, pests and poisonous weeds are also threatening 9.59 million hectares of grazing land.

 

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