DESTRUCTION OF RATS.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 698, 10 January 1922, Page 2

DESTRUCTION OF RATS.

CAMPAIGN 1 OF EXTERMINATION. IN INTERESTS OF HEALTH. The Government Health Department is much concerned about the pi’evalence of rats in various centres, seemingly fearing that the rodents may be the-; means of spreading plague throughout the Dominion if they are not destroyed. The following is an extract from a circular letter received by the Pukekohe Borough Council from the Department of Health at its last meeting:— In a campaign against l’ats it is essential that )the greatest energy and zeal should be displayed by all. It is the duty of every householder as well as every local authority. Preventive Measures. —The .protection of all food supplies, the careful removal of waste food, the destruction of refuse, the rat proofing of buildings, and especially those in which foodstuffs are stored, and keeping of drains in proper order, ai-e among the most important measures.

Protection of Food. —Buildings, especially those in which foodstuffs and forage are stored, dining moms, cookhouses bakeries, etc., should be- rendered rat-proof. Food stored in restaurants, houses, etc., should be kept in gauze safes on protected by means of V-2 inch mesh wire netting.

Removal and/ Destruction of Refuse. —All refuse should be temporarily placed in rat-proof receptacles, such as metal bins, with closely fitting lids, and the bins should tfiever be allowed to overflow. Refuse so stored should be promptly removed and destroyed. The formation of rubbish heap's is a dangerous practice, as these afford good shelter and food for rats. Kitchen refuse should be burnt by householders in the kitchen fireplace as much as possible, otherwise it should be temporarily stored in properly covered receptacles pending its removal by the local authority.

It is the duty of the local authority to enforce householders to provide proper garbage receptacles with proper covers, and that, these should not be over-filled and covers should be always used. At present certain local authorities are not carrying this out satisfactorily. Local bodies should burn garbage as much as possible, using destructors or incinerators. At dumps as much as possiblie should be burnt, especially material that be food for rats. The use of kerosene will assist greatly in the burning; process, after which laying of one of the various poisons, such as poisoned pollard, etc., and trapping should be used. A rat-proof fence can be placed aroun' 1 old dumps to prevent the migration of rats by erecting a fence several feet high around a tip, using fa inch mesh wire netting, the lower edge being buried 18 inches underground! and along the top a piece of tin is fasten ed sloping towards the interior. Burrows from which rats have beer

driven should be filled with concrete ; a mixture of cement, sand and broken glass or crockery; or of brokeen glass or tar in order to present the rats re-establishing themselves in the holes.

Protection of Buildings and Drains. New buildings. should be rendered ratproof by the use of concrete in ■foundations and cellar floors and all doors, windows, ventilators. and drains adequately protected, and various points of access of rats into buildings protected, in old buildings. Openings into drains and sewers should be efficiently sealed, and any repairs to the pipes should receive prompt attention. The inlets and outlets of ventilating pipes should be protected by means of wire co'nes. The water seal of drains in basements is frequently dry and the drain ’untrapped, and under such conditions rats are still more likely to gain access into warehouses." 1 An exceptionally high tide may drive rats up the drains into warehouses. METHODS OF DESTRUCTION. Measures for the destruction of rats should be carried! out simultaneously over a wide .area, and re’iance should, not be placed on any one method. Extermination is practically impossible as rats readily migrate, and the most that can be hoped from measures against rats is reduction in their numbers. It should be recognised that the existence of these vermin is strictly dependent upon the food they are able to procure, and that they will not remain or increase in places where such cannot easily be obtained.

Poisoning,.—The active poisoning agent In most of the preparations on the market are arsenic, phospherous, strychnine, barium, carbonate, squills, plaster of paris. The greatest precautions must be taken to avoid accidents. Domestic animals must be safeguarded and the unconsumed portion of the poisonous bait removed and destroyed. Poisoning- should be followed up by trapping. Sometimes it is advantageous to bait without the actual poison for two or three nights in order to entice rats. Poisoning can be continued a fter an inter /a! of 10 days. Lay poisoned baits wen within the burrows if possible. Best results are often obtained by using baits of a different nature from the food they usually obtain. A change of bait is certain to be of considerable value, and when laying again use a different bait now and again. The bait should be as fresh as possible. Rats are very suspicious animals, and if one of number dies f'iom eating some particular kind of food they will not go, near that food for some time unless, it is artificially concealed and judiciously placed.' Thie no doubt accounts for the use of poison not always being attended with success. Professional rat-catch-ers prepare their bait in various ways, and the oils of musk, amseed, carraway, rhodium, etc., are often incorporated in the bait so as to make it attractive to The rats,.

It was decided to procure poison and to poison the rubbish tip. Anyone whose places are infested with rats can obtain poison from the Borough Council Office.