Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-11-22
Rats at the Zoo.

"Would you believe it. the rats give
us more trouble than all the wild ami
mails combined said Superintendent
Arthur E. Brown, of the Geological
Garden, yesterday. when questioned
about the annoyance caused by the TO-
dents that infest the garden.
.'They seem to be everywhere con-
tinued the Superintendent, land their
boldness and cunning are something
remarkable. All Geological Gardens
complain of the annoyance caused by
these creatures, for the character of the
places they select for their homes in
sures them, | might say, immunity
from harm. We dare not scatter poison
around, for not only the rats but some
of the most valuable animals in the gar
den would be apt to partake of the
deadly stuff, and we would suffer many
thousands of dollars of loss. in thus try
ing to rid ourselves of the pests. Were
it not that this danger forestalls all ef-
forts in that direction, we would. not
lose any time, in resorting to such
means.
There Is no such thing as starving
them out, for there is always plenty Of
material for them to feed on within
easy reach of their holes. Food is
plentlfully scattered around the grounds
for the animals and fowls, and the rats
just fill themselves like gluttons on the
choice morsels intended for the attrac-
TONS, This is the most exasperatinE
part of the matter. They grow fat and
bold on the high living unintentionally
afforded them. Sometimes their bold
ness results fatally. The other day a
big rat saucily crawled into the lions
den just as the beast was about to dis
pose OF a ifteen-pound chunk of juicy
beef. The lion did not notice the. in-
truder until the latter had approached
within two feet of him. The rat stop
ped moment, seemingly debating in
his mind whether or not it would be
judicious to, go any nearer. The lion
quickly espied his unwe.come visitor.
the rat tried to scarnper away. but in a
twinkling the lions big paw came down
savagely on the puny fugitive, and a
moment later the thieving. little rascal
was being beautifully crunched to atoms
between the capacious jaws of the lion.
Down in the beavers pond they
hold high carnival at feeding time.
Sometimes a score of them will emerge
from their nests and steal the food from
under the beavers noses. The beavers
have got so accustomed to them that
they do notify to chase them away any
more. A dozen. or more will gather
around the old sun bear and steal his
rations out of his mouth. The old fell
low long ago gave up all hope of beat
ing them off. Tiger cats are supposed
to be the deadly foes of rats, but those
we have here in the garden never try to
kill them only when they are breeding.
The same can be said of the common
cats. Down at the lake the rats have
killed number of young ducks and
geese, and it is almost impossible to raise
any kind of young fowl. They make
war on the pheasants to such an extent
that we found it necessary to build a
brick wall under the cage to prevent
them from burrowing under. A similar
wall was built around the duck pond,
three feet below the surface, but they
worked their way under nevertheless.
Now we try to drown them out by
squirting hose down the holes. The
rats are too smart to be caught with
traps. Sometimes we catch some in
this way and, feed them to the snakes.
When bitten by rattlesnake rat will
not move more than two feet away be-
fore it drops dead, 50 quickly does the
venom do it's work. ''-PAilddelphid
Record.