Rats on the run as cat army arrives
Source: Xinhua |
August 20, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
More than 100 stray cats that used to roam city streets have been organized into an army to fight rodents on pastureland in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The "cat army," which was despatched by the local pest control office to the grassland in May, has adapted to its new life and its members have proved themselves as good rat hunters, Li Hua, a forestry worker in Xinjiang's Bole City, said.
Li and his colleagues have seen fewer rats in areas where the cats wander. "Local herders also said they saw fewer rat holes," he said.
At least 5.4 million hectares of Xinjiang's pastureland was plagued by rats in spring and a total of 242 tons of rat poison was used to fight the pests.
To make the cats comfortable in the grassland, forestry workers have built pens for them near water sources and, in winter, local herders will be paid a subsidy to care for them in their homes.
Li said cats were as efficient as foxes and eagles in hunting down and killing rats.
The "cat army," which was despatched by the local pest control office to the grassland in May, has adapted to its new life and its members have proved themselves as good rat hunters, Li Hua, a forestry worker in Xinjiang's Bole City, said.
Li and his colleagues have seen fewer rats in areas where the cats wander. "Local herders also said they saw fewer rat holes," he said.
At least 5.4 million hectares of Xinjiang's pastureland was plagued by rats in spring and a total of 242 tons of rat poison was used to fight the pests.
To make the cats comfortable in the grassland, forestry workers have built pens for them near water sources and, in winter, local herders will be paid a subsidy to care for them in their homes.
Li said cats were as efficient as foxes and eagles in hunting down and killing rats.
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