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Rats! Rats! Rats!

Harvested with a 12-bore. Some assembly required.

maximus otter
Reminds me of a 'slot together' wooden sailing ship kit, I bought once to build with my son. The instructions literally were "Build it to look like the picture on the box".
 
Words fail me.

A new pop-up bar is offering drinkers an unusual activity to accompany their cocktails – the chance to play with rats.

Rat Bar, organised by San Francisco Dungeon, will open to customers next month following the successful run of a similar event at the California tourist attraction, Rat Cafe.

Drinkers will be offered a half-hour slot to play with the rodents as well as supping on an inevitable rat-themed cocktail – the Ama-RAT-o Sour.

Punters will also be treated to an hour-long interactive show about the “weird, twisted, dark side of the city’s history”.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/examv...chance-to-have-rats-climb-on-them-928003.html
 
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Come on the giant stick insects!

Mass rodent poisoning on this remote Australian island could bring back giant stick insect
By John PickrellJun. 5, 2019 , 12:45 PM

A beguiling, 11-kilometer-long speck of land in the Pacific Ocean 780 kilometers northeast of Sydney, Australia, Lord Howe Island hosts some of the world's southernmost tropical coral reefs as well as throngs of endemic birds and insects. But invasive species have laid siege to its unique biodiversity, the worst of them the black rats that first scurried ashore in 1918 after the steamship SS Makambo grounded on the reef. Now, a unique effort to eradicate the invaders is unfolding—against a background of controversy among the island's roughly 380 human inhabitants.

To protect or restore native species, introduced rodents have been extirpated on more than 700 islands worldwide, many around New Zealand, with its rich but threatened endemic fauna. But the Lord Howe project, years in the making, "will be the largest rodent eradication undertaken on a permanently inhabited island anywhere in the world," says Andrew Walsh of the Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project, who is overseeing the effort to spread 42 tons of poisoned cereal pellets across the island. Some 28,000 bait stations were filled across farmed and residential areas starting 22 May, and helicopters will scatter baits over more forested and mountainous parts of the island as soon as weather permits.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...ly_2019-06-05&et_rid=394299689&et_cid=2848575
 
Scouser wants to shoot rats.

Rats plaguing the streets of Liverpool should be shot by trained marksmen, a councillor has suggested.

Steve Radford, leader of the city's Liberal Party, made the suggestion during a wider debate about hunting. He said that while he was opposed to recreational hunting, he would be "happy" to trial the shooting of rats as part of a "professional" pest control system.

City Mayor Joe Anderson described the suggestion as "silly and absurd". Shooting vermin was "dismissed many years ago" as a system of pest control, Mr Anderson, of the Labour-controlled authority, added.

Mr Radford, who represents the city's Tuebrook and Stoneycroft ward, said some terraced streets had a rat problem. He said the council had spent £1.5m repairing walls that he claimed had been damaged by the rodents.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-50081316
 
Shooting rats, albeit effective, is very inefficient as a means of clearing an area. Far too expensive to wipe them out one at a time.

It really has to be poison. Much though I dislike the idea.

That's how we got rid of the problem around here.
 
Shooting rats, albeit effective, is very inefficient as a means of clearing an area. Far too expensive to wipe them out one at a time.

It really has to be poison. Much though I dislike the idea.

That's how we got rid of the problem around here.

Max could do it to keep his hand in when deer aren't in season.
 
This story concerns rats of the more domestic variety, but it definitely fits with this thread's title ...
San Diego woman living in van gives up all 300 of her rats

A woman living in a van in San Diego with her pet rats has agreed to give them up — all 300 of them.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says the San Diego Humane Society went to the woman’s van near Del Mar on Oct. 8.

Authorities found rats had clawed into upholstery, burrowed into the seats and gnawed the engine wiring.

Capt. Danee Cook says the woman wasn’t hoarding the animals — she’d started with just two pet rats. But rats can give birth every four weeks and produce a dozen in a litter.

Cook says the woman acknowledged things had gotten out of control.

Authorities collected about 320 rats, and more than 100 are currently ready for adoption.

The woman, meanwhile, has found a new place to stay.
SOURCE: https://www.apnews.com/b99a39fcd42e4cbfac213cf2c5107e28
 
Rats plaguing the streets of Liverpool should be shot by trained marksmen, a councillor has suggested.

Is this the same council that, only days ago, spouted:

“This Council declares its complete opposition to any form of hunting live animals with hounds or shooting live game, in the UK or overseas. We note that this is barbaric in all cases...”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...il-accused-confusing-shooting-lions-shooting/

l also enjoy the specification that the shooting should be done only by “trained marksmen”. If m’learned friend had stated that he wanted to retain “ambulancemen” or “firemen”, the Internet would have melted. As the connotation is - in the eyes of Scouse pols - negative, they seem happy to let it stand.

maximus otter
 
Shooting rats, albeit effective, is very inefficient as a means of clearing an area. Far too expensive to wipe them out one at a time.

It really has to be poison. Much though I dislike the idea.

That's how we got rid of the problem around here.

Shooting rats can be extremely effective, if methodical and sustained.

Poison? Very “speciesist”, isn’t it? It could be argued, with overwhelming evidence, that the UK is “infested” with deer, which - in uncontrolled numbers - are a “pest species”. Let’s see a pol associate himself with the idea of “poisoning Bambi”, though...

maximus otter
 
...Shooting rats can be extremely effective, if methodical and sustained....

I reckon the old school sling shot black widow catapults and cats are the way forward to keep rat numbers down.
 
Send in the Liverpool Liberal with his Luger.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A woman living in a van in San Diego with her pet rats has agreed to give them up — all 300 of them.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says the San Diego Humane Society went to the woman’s van near Del Mar on Oct. 8.

Authorities found rats had clawed into upholstery, burrowed into the seats and gnawed the engine wiring.

Capt. Danee Cook says the woman wasn’t hoarding the animals — she’d started with just two pet rats. But rats can give birth every four weeks and produce a dozen in a litter.

https://apnews.com/b99a39fcd42e4cbfac213cf2c5107e28
 
Poison? Very “speciesist”, isn’t it? It could be argued, with overwhelming evidence, that the UK is “infested” with deer, which - in uncontrolled numbers - are a “pest species”. Let’s see a pol associate himself with the idea of “poisoning Bambi”, though...

maximus otter

There are time, valued co-member, when you spout total rubbish.

This is one of them.

Oddly, around here we have not had deer getting inside the cavity walls of houses or tunneling under floors.

Perhaps we are fortunate to have avoided this.

INT21.
 
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Poison? Very “speciesist”, isn’t it? It could be argued, with overwhelming evidence, that the UK is “infested” with deer, which - in uncontrolled numbers - are a “pest species”. Let’s see a pol associate himself with the idea of “poisoning Bambi”, though...

maximus otter

There are time, valued co-member, when you spout total rubbish.

This is one of them.

Oddly, around here we have not had deer getting inside the cavity walls of houses or tunneling under floors.

Perhaps we are fortunate to have avoided this.

INT21.

And on his first day in Cromer Swifty was attacked by a deer.
 
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About two weeks ago, a colleague from my day job experienced an odd case of mistaken identity. She had worked late that day and was leaving the office around 8 pm via the main entrance. As she left the building, she spotted what she thought was a stray cat moving in the bushes a few metres from the entrance. Darkness had fallen, so she was able to see the creature only by the lights on the exterior of the building. She knelt down and called out, "Here kitty, kitty!" The creature moved out of the bushes and she was startled to discover that it was in fact a large rat. She pulled out her cell phone, took a video of the rodent scurrying about and returned inside to show the security guard at the front desk. (I don't know what she thought the security guard was going to do about it). The security guard told her that he and the other guards had noticed several rats on the grounds of the building over the past few months. Apparently some of the rats were regulars and the guards had given them names. He said the one my colleague saw was called Frank.

At least it wasn't a skunk...
 
We do have a serious upturn in rat home invasions round here. And I can testify that Terriers are not the answer. They simply cull the weak ones. Cats may be better but my own terrier has a veto.
 
We do have a serious upturn in rat home invasions round here. And I can testify that Terriers are not the answer. They simply cull the weak ones. Cats may be better but my own terrier has a veto.

How I now imagine Cochise :

ngUhnES.jpg
 
We do have a serious upturn in rat home invasions round here. And I can testify that Terriers are not the answer. They simply cull the weak ones. Cats may be better but my own terrier has a veto.

We keep cats and don't have vermin. Our neighbours who don't have cats have mice. My JRT would chase rats when we were out but didn't get a chance at home. My boxer/Staffie cross would catch and eat rats if he got the chance.
 
We were discussing rats over the weekend it seems they are not above cannibalism,
and on the trawlers they would often find a jar of jam with a small hole in the top and
absolutely clean of jam, little sods were gnawing a small hole just big enough to get
there tail in and using it to fish out the jam, clever buggers.
 
We keep cats and don't have vermin. Our neighbours who don't have cats have mice. My JRT would chase rats when we were out but didn't get a chance at home. My boxer/Staffie cross would catch and eat rats if he got the chance.
My little lad has caught a couple of mice and at least a couple of (probably geriatric and ill) rats. He drops them when they are dead. But it takes a pretty stupid or deaf rodent to be caught by him because he insists on barking as he goes about his business.
 
Went into the shed today. And on a bench was a part eaten apple. Damn, He's back.

So I left the rest of the apple where it was, and prepared a small offering of 'afters'.

Did you know that rats don't appear to like apple peel ? All around the apple were small shavings of peel. It seems that they remove the peel to get at the soft fruit inside.

Ginger Tabby,

You really aught to report those rats to the local council, or put some poison down yourself.

It may seem cute for the security to give them names. But they are a real menace.

INT21.
 
We were discussing rats over the weekend it seems they are not above cannibalism,
and on the trawlers they would often find a jar of jam with a small hole in the top and
absolutely clean of jam, little sods were gnawing a small hole just big enough to get
there tail in and using it to fish out the jam, clever buggers.
Gnawing through a metal lid? Whoa.
 
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