The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-09-25
RAT CAMPAIGN n
IS DOING WEN

The war against the rat is being mA ~
cilessly waged by the Board of HealtAN
and the United States quarantine seh{
vice, trap and gun being kept busbI
For the week ending September 10 tNls
number OF sealps taken by the authoAfV
ties amounted to S25, of which numbdf;
of rats 5s7 stuck their feet into traISyl
and 23s fell before the unerring aim
of the shotgun specialists.
This is a satisfactory showing, butA
much more satisfactory is the fact that
$50 of these dead rats were bacteria
logically examined and not one found
to be infected with bubonic germs.
Very satisfactory, too, is the fact
that each rat, properly dead and tagged
for Identification purposes, cost, deliv-
cred at the quarantine laboratory, only
twelve and a quarter cents. These are
the official figures supplied the Board
of Health by DIR. Currie, who is in com
mand of the rat exterminators, and
when compared to what the market
price of registered rats has been else
where it can be seen what bargains
these are. In Seattle, for instance,
when the rat war was on, it cost the
United tSates government a dollar and
half per rat, regular Klondike prices
A noticeable thing about the Homo
lulu rats is that they are in nowise,
bigoted, the tree rat sometimes prefer
ring the ground and the ground rat
sometimes visiting his arborea breth-
rem. The rat of the Rattus family, for
instance, did considerable amount of
tree climbing last week, no fewer than
forty-one having been bird-shotted out
of their leafy retreats, while the num-
| Der who fell by the wayside in the
ground traps set was 1872. The Mus
Alexandrinus, whose home is among
the bird perches, ran into fftyseven
ground traps through being where, he
had no business to be, while 147 stay
at-homes fell victims to the sharp
shooters, The Norway rat, who never
climbs tree, contributed thirty -se,ven
of their number to the trappers, AND
30l Mus musculus did the same. WV
In addition to the shotgun brigttl1
out in force and the fifteen hundvslfl
odd traps that are being set daily sW'
the feet of the unwary rat, the FedeNE,
authorities are busy with their cattelT,
the trained ratters from which thtIi
will before very long let loose agains,A
the whole mus population. In the hatcheI'
on Quarantine Island are now gathered
together the fiercest of the feline pofL
ulation of the city, some Toms whi{f
weigh in at eight pounds fightibe'
weight, and number of TomasiIan!
whose teeth and claws have 4surviVR,
them as the fittest of whole genetYt
ton. Already the fighting progeny yys
these fighting sires have begun to ersh
their eyes open, and the demand frdh
the island for meat, raw and bloody, iBh
a. weaving diet for the kittens, is grolnf
ing. Before long the kittens will ~
/. given rats to eat, dead ones to st5 III
on, and finally, when they are not 81
wobbly on their legs, live ones 1t vi
the idea of those responsible for tik
cattery that if this first generation b
} brought up on fresh rat as steadn
diet and if the population of thetcaf
terry is forced to run down and catcl'
the introduced live rats or 90 hungry
that their children in turn will be born
ratters, with taste for blood and a
knowledge through heredity of the
! ways of rats that will bode no good
to the various breeds of muses. that in.
fest the city, and during the times OF
plague furnish a rapid transit system
for the bubonic flea.
/