Evening star., 1946-05-06
This and That
By Charles E. Trdce1UeH.

ocSoND . S1REEI.
Dear Sir:
will you write something of .moles?
Ihefe Is mole tunnel right by my
'front.' doorway. 1 have put dirt in a
hole saw and the hole appeared about
three feet away. Now the other hole
Is open. What is the easiest way to
get rid of them?
Respectfully, G. D."
Perhaps the easiest way to get rid
OF moles is to put spoonful of I've
back into the hole.
The poor creature gets this on his
paws and snoot and licks it off, after
which he dies in agony.
Killing all the natural creatures.
either by poison or trapping, is cruel.
Surely there is enough cruelty, intended
ana unlntentlonal, in the world as it is.
Terrible poisons, such as phosphorus,
are put out for rats, and pet dogs and
cats get them and die in convulsions.
Eradication of the rat is essential in
civilized communities, but great care
should be taken, if such poisons are
used, to SO guard them that dogs and
cats and birds cannot get them.
This, of course, is difficult task, so
we may urge that all animal lovers,
persons of kind heart and good will in
world of hard hearts and ill wills.
should use bait treated with red suuill.
which pets throw up. Rodents, lacking
the vomit reflex, die.
The mole is such an interesting ami
NAL that he should be tolerated. one
may feel Instead of that truly Christian
attitude, most persons want to kill
them, mainly, we believe, because it
is an instructive reaction, rather than
reasoned one.
Then, too, tunnels they dig do make
lawn look humpy and sometimes
fall in, but it must be submitted that
such places in yard are not really
as bad as the owner likes to think
them. The lawn is touchy subject for
most owners, cne which often becomes
sort OF mild obsession. 1t is difficult
to have really good lawn in this
climate, what with its long dry spells.
etc. So it often occurs that the lawn
owner becomes irritated out of all
reason at trifles.
Let the moles live, then They are
simply after their dinner. If things
keep on the way they have been going.
with no meat, no bread, etc., maybe
millions of Americans will come to have
more sympathy for the poor moles as
they snoot along for their food.
A mole can dig IS feet in one night.
Think of that, all ye diggers!
A mole must eat constantly to keep
alive. If he cannot get food for even
a few hours he will starve to death.
No wonder he works in a feverish
manner. So would you if you stood but
a meal of two from death by starva-
ton. 1t was rather dirty trick on the
part OF nature to give the poor mole
no more lee-way than this.
Moles do fine job in killing wire
worms, cutworms and other destruc-
tive creatures
Our soil would fairly be reeking with
noxious insects if it were not for moles.
Now understand, these insects might
not come up in your yard, but they
would in somebody else's, perhaps where
food is grown, and in the end, if there
were no moles, there would be vastly
increased loss of food to insects.
Maybe it is the moles beneath the
sod who make possible a clean SUBJ
stratum for the roots of our vegetables
and fruits and grains, just as it is
the birds of the air which make DOS
sible the destruction of insects above
ground. Cats keep down the vermin.
All OF these creatures are part of
the great chain of nature and when
we interfere with any one of them
we help to break . link.