POISON-GAS FOR SHIP RATS
No .fewer than 73G7 rats were destroyed v -> in. the two. months June 22 to August 23 in, ships 'arriving at t":io London Docks, ..in addition to 3510 in warehouses. These figures were given to a representativft oLthe,"Daily Mail" by Dr. W. IL Willonghby, the Port medical officer. "It is not uncommon to find am', destroy 200 to 300.rats in a ship arriving from a foreign port,'' said Dr. Willough-by,\--"In one vessel 750 .were killed recently .in,,<th"o holds and -W caught on deck... Tho .Port Sanitary Authority exerts' itself • against rats, chiefly because at any time they may be carriers of plague. "Ships are being constantly inspected, our Port inspectors being all sea-cap-tains, and what a sea captain- does not l, know about rats nobody knows. InspecP3»sfe)';§- know exactly where t:> look foi them, and when they report any ship to by 'ratty,' measures are taken to disinfest if. "Nothing can be don* until tho cargo is discharged, but the mo.iisnt the .holds are empty they are filled With poison gas. Several gases are available, but the one commonly chosen is sulnhur dioxide; for tho reason that it is heavier than air and does not riso out of tho hold. Tno crew's quarters, pantries, and all places of refuge are filled with gas and ■ sealed un simultaneously with the holds, and if the rats seek refuge on deck they can bo poisoned or caught in traps. "In tho campaign against rats tliron.rhout the country it is important to understand, that die only way (o mince elTeet:vely the rat pcoulatioi> is by Feparating the rats from their fowl ai'd shelter If this is dono the} cannot breed, and will die out."
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 76, 23 December 1919, Page 8
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284POISON-GAS FOR SHIP RATS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 76, 23 December 1919, Page 8
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