The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-01-06
British Zoo Director Says Pres
ent Methods Are Wrong.
WOULD KILL ONLY FEMALES
Then the Males viii Fight Each
Other and Eventually Destroy the
3reed--Four Males and Six Fe-
nalcs, Given Sufficient Food, Will
Increase to 10000 Females and
10000 Males Within TWO Years
Proven by Denrark's Experience.

Great Britain strenuous efforts,
during The National Rat week just
closed. 70 destroy the rodents said TO
have been responsible for the dcstruc-
tion of Sl40.000,GG0 worth of food
last year, are pronounced by an Eng
lish scientist to be completely and ex-
actly wrong.
According to this authority, the
ministry of health in encouraging the
wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter
of rats in the British Isles is merely
improving living conditions for the
survivors. whose progeny in less than
a year will be as populouS as before.
There is only one way to rid the world
Of rats. says this man, and that is to
appeal to biological laws. to upset the
numerical proportions. between the
sexes and then leave the males to de-
stroy their own race.
This advocate Of sexual selection In
place OF rat poison is Director George
sJennison Of the Manchester Geological
Gardens. who. in recent appeal 10
the sanitary authorities Of England,
says:
Can't Kill Them All.
"When one realizes the enormous
fecundity of ratS-a fecundity so great
that four males and six females, given
sufficient food. will increase 70 10000
females and 10000 males within two
yearS-it becomes apparent that hit-or-
miss methods will never work. You
can't Kill them all by human efforts
I and if you let a single pair escape
you will have presently the same
swarmS as before.
"Thcse rat crusadcS are all wrong.
As everybody knows, the male rat is
the bolder. the one who roves abroad
reckleSSly, and he is the one who is
caught in these indiScriminate attacks.
This decrease in the males means more
food and more quiet for the females
who. undisturbed, breed prolifically
and soon restore the number.
"Denmark's experience proves this
completely. Denmark began in 1907
the policy Of the indiScriminate kill
ing Of rats. She had a most elaborate
and efficient system In 1907 she killed
i $4,000 rats. the vast majority of
whom were males But eight years
later. with he system still in force.
she killed 139,000 rats, She had made
no beadway whatever. To be sure,
she killed only $4,000 last year. but
! that decreaSe-aS she admits herself
is due to the food famine conditions
prevailing there during the war.
The only scientific course is to
turn your back reSolutely on this In
discriminate slaughter and deliber-
! ately upset the balance of the sexes.
Raj poison should be forbidden. Like
wise shooting rats. or catching them
! in spring traps that kill them. The
thing to do is to catch them alive in
! traps or trap rooms. examine them,
DESTROY the females and turn the males
] loose
Destroy the Race.
THAT may sound like q fantastic
| suggestion. but every experienced
English game keeper follows exactly
! the same procedure when he wants
| to increase or decrease game on a
! preserve. Ordinarily there are, as we
know, two male rats to every three
females. If YOU disturb this balance.
so that there are two males to every
| female. YOU destroy the race. first by
setting the males against each other
and secondly by forcing them 10 harry
! the does in the breeding season.
"We have been following this meth
cd now for some years in the Zooog-
ical Gardens. In 1913. when we be-
gan. we caught, on an average, 30 rats
a month. BY destroying the females
and releasing the males, we have now
cut the population down visibly: we
now catch only about IS rats a
month.
america has afforded biologists a
striking example. all unintentionalsy
of the success of this method. | re-
fer 10 the total destruction OF the pas
senger pigeon in America. At one
tine the fiocks numbered hundreds OF
thousands. but hunters. setting them
selves 10 catch the female while on her
nest in the breeding season, upset the
balance and in few decades com
pletely destroyed the species.
/ "Rodier of Melbourne, Australia, Is
trying to persuade the people oi
that continent TO follow this method
in attacking the rabbit pest, which, II
spite of all efforts. is growing worse
each year. Every new settler in
creases the food supply and mnItipiieS
the nu:nher Of rabbits. The waste Ir
money is $1O0,000,000 a year and in
rreasing yearly The rabbits ars
poisoned and trapped and shot in Surt
huge numbers that blowf'ies infest The
mir in certain seasons. But ii is hope
less The Australians can make M
heaGway until they enlist sexual selec
ton on their side kill all the females
release the males and set the latter L