The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-05-24
RATS KILL PRAIRIE DOGS.
Strange Visitation in the Lincoln
Park Zoo in Extraordinarily
of. the Rodents.

Nine rats eXterminated the colony
of As prairie dogs which have made
Lincoln park their home for the last
two years; and now the Lincoln park
commissioners are looking for a new
consignment of prairie dogs. When
man was set to work the other day in
the prairie dog pit to ascertain what
had become of the colony which disaP
peared in their homes beneath the sod
in the latter part of November, he found
that all that remained of As active lit
tie animals were As clearly picked skel-
etons.
The discovery created sensation
among the animal keepers and excited
a fierce desire for vengeance. One
prairie dog was found half eaten, and
from the appearance of the remains it
was evident the murderers had only
just left their last victim. 'The man
with the hoe" at once set to work to
solve the mystery. The entrance to
tunnel much larger than those made
by the prairie dogs was discovered, and
huddled together at the end, squeaking
with fright, We're nine rats, in the best
physical condition from their continu
Gus meal of the winter months. Their
end was sudden. The remains of the
rats were piled in a heap at the end
of the prairie dog pit, and the skele-
tons of their victims were piled at the
other, mute evidence of the winter
tragedy.
How the rats got in and the man.
ner in which they did the work proved
the ingenuity of the rodents. Beside
one end of the prairie dog pit grows
thriving lilac bush, and it was by this
means the rats gained entrance to the
pit. The rats climbed up the bush
and jumped over into the pit. Just how
the rats divided up the little animals
among them is uncertain, but as the
entire nine seemed to have thriven
equally well it was evident that there
had been an equal division of the deni-
zens of the pit. This would have given
to each rat five and one-third prairie
dogs, which represented his rations for
the winter.
The rats which wiped out the Lin
coin park prairie dogs were of the
black and brown variety. Some of
them weighed two or three pounds and
could have put up stiff fight. The
Lincoln park commissioners have sent
out west for some new prairie dogs
and when they come greaterprecautions
will be taken to save them from the
fate of their predecessors.
Rats have always been the bane of
the animal keepers at Lincoln park.
Extraordinary precautions have had
to be taken to prevent them from kill
ing off the young ducks and geese and
other smaller animals. On the prairie,
rats and prairie dogs live together, al
though a prominent western authority
on the habits of rats and prairie dogs
said: Rats and prairie dogs do live
together, but the prairie dogs don't
like it,
On the prairie, however, prairie
dog is usually the equal OF the rat if
not his superior, and a wholesale
slaughter such as that at Lincoln park
could not occur. 1t is said that rats
have been known to attack elephants,
their system of attack being to gnaw
up through the huge feet of the ele-
plants. 1t is a matter of record that
Hagenbeck, the famous Snowman, had
three young African elephants killed
by them; and authenticated cases are
on record of rats having attacked and
attempted to devCur children.
Hundreds of instances could be re-
lated of the destructive propensities
of rats. The most noted are the de-
struction of the town of Hamelin, in
which the Pied Piper played such a
prominent part, and the instance of the
Bishop of Bingen, in his mouse tower
on the Rhine"