Cape warned to stop drowning rats

Here is one article, though this has more to with eradication on islands.

http://research.ncsu.edu/islandmice/what-has-been-done/why-is-ecology-important-for-eradications/

Why is Ecology Important for Eradications?

The goal of eradication is to remove the population of a particular species. Depending on how the eradication is managed, this population reduction might fail in the end. Additionally, the eradication might affect populations of other species that are not intended to be harmed. What can be done when faced with complicated interactions between organisms? Fortunately there is already a large body of theory, known as ecology, that studies how populations of species change and interact over time. We will try to answer a few important concerns that ecology can help to answer.
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Read the link.

The best control is to use the natural resources, in this case let the ecosystem handle the situation, this post has the a solution,

ellyally said:
Best solution is to let nature(owls etc) do their thing. Sadly though, this is SA so thats not an option
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However, the human communities has taken little care with their expansions, cultures and traditions, people are reckless.

The general aim is to keep invasive species to a low population, while keeping the ecosystem healthy. Foreign (non-indigenous or non-native) invasive species should be eradicated as soon as possible, once they are part in the ecosystem it is too late as the ecology adapts over time.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
Here is one article, though this has more to with eradication on islands.

http://research.ncsu.edu/islandmice/what-has-been-done/why-is-ecology-important-for-eradications/



Read the link.

The best control is to use the natural resources, in this case let the ecosystem handle the situation, this post has the a solution,



However, the human communities has taken little care with their expansions, cultures and traditions, people are reckless.

The general aim is to keep invasive species to a low population, while keeping the ecosystem healthy. Foreign (non-indigenous or non-native) invasive species should be eradicated as soon as possible, once they are part in the ecosystem it is too late as the ecology adapts over time.
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It might be a solution in Nature and away from cities and people, but this sure as hell does not work to balance anything out inside already populated cities.
Why do you think the rats are such a problem, because of the humans. they have no natural enemies because the humans chase their enemies away and feed the rats indirectly.
Killing something by poison or by water or by putting a predator in the area is the same thing. The human intervene and does that.
If they say bring more owls is more natural, then I call bull on that. What is the difference an owl ripping it to shreds compared to putting it in water and drowning it. We put the owl there thus our action killed the rat. Might as well build an arena stick a rat inside it next to a cat and then saying.. "oh it is nature taking it's course"
 
RJMadCat said:
It might be a solution in Nature and away from cities and people, but this sure as hell does not work to balance anything out inside already populated cities.
Why do you think the rats are such a problem, because of the humans. they have no natural enemies because the humans chase their enemies away and feed the rats indirectly.
Killing something by poison or by water or by putting a predator in the area is the same thing. The human intervene and does that.
If they say bring more owls is more natural, then I call bull on that. What is the difference an owl ripping it to shreds compared to putting it in water and drowning it. We put the owl there thus our action killed the rat. Might as well build an arena stick a rat inside it next to a cat and then saying.. "oh it is nature taking it's course"
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and you just hit on a brilliant solution that harnesses the most effective of human motivations - greed!

Rat Fights!

You won't be able to find a wild rat for miles around!!!!





















































/joking of course :rolleyes:
 
RJMadCat said:
It might be a solution in Nature and away from cities and people, but this sure as hell does not work to balance anything out inside already populated cities.
Why do you think the rats are such a problem, because of the humans. they have no natural enemies because the humans chase their enemies away and feed the rats indirectly.
Killing something by poison or by water or by putting a predator in the area is the same thing. The human intervene and does that.
If they say bring more owls is more natural, then I call bull on that. What is the difference an owl ripping it to shreds compared to putting it in water and drowning it. We put the owl there thus our action killed the rat. Might as well build an arena stick a rat inside it next to a cat and then saying.. "oh it is nature taking it's course"
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The human communities are surrounded by nature, there are two public nature reserves close to Khayelitsha and others (mainly bird sanctuaries) which are closed to the public. We have many owls here in the Cape Peninsula, but they are killed in Khayelitsha.

The cages are used by the communities to mass eradicate the rats, also lacking specialists to do the task. As per the SCPA it is inhumane, but otherwise it is a solution. You know killing rats in water, especially water used by humans, is a risk to the environment.

As per the article, the poison,

Marais said he appreciated that the city wanted to move away from poison, which could take up to five days to kill a rat and also poisoned secondary animals such as owls and falcons that fed on the carcasses.
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The two above solutions are hardly controlled.

Using nature to control pests already eliminates pesticide and is welcomed by the environment. Though it will take longer to lower the rodent population it is an healthy solution over the long-term.

In my concern it is not how the pests are killed, rather how it is controlled. Read the article that I had posted. Once you eradicate one specie in the ecosystem then you endanger other specie(s) whether it are animals or plants, or human.

Generally it should be the property owner's responsibility to keep pests under control and away.
 
Actually, what's wrong with increasing the local cat population?

And if I'm being un-PC, I'm sure we can teach the shack dwellers how to eat cat; they'd probably be easier to catch than rats, anyways.
 
Xarog said:
Actually, what's wrong with increasing the local cat population?

And if I'm being un-PC, I'm sure we can teach the shack dwellers how to eat cat; they'd probably be easier to catch than rats, anyways.
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More meat too.
 
Xarog said:
Actually, what's wrong with increasing the local cat population?
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The rats are bigger than cats:) But yeah, thats what I meant by 'nature(owls etc)'. As far as I know, they have the same problem as the owls. Cats are bad to see/good to eat muti?
 
Xarog said:
Actually, what's wrong with increasing the local cat population?

And if I'm being un-PC, I'm sure we can teach the shack dwellers how to eat cat; they'd probably be easier to catch than rats, anyways.
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Here, pussy, puss...
 
Fulcrum29 said:
Generally it should be the property owner's responsibility to keep pests under control and away.
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Actually no, not when it comes to rats and other vermin. The property owner can only do so much, for the rest the metro takes over. They have whole departments looking after this function, which are funded by the metro's ratepayers.

Here is the NMB page info: http://www.nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/Content.aspx?objID=409
 
MickeyD said:
Actually no, not when it comes to rats and other vermin. The property owner can only do so much, for the rest the metro takes over. They have whole departments looking after this function, which are funded by the metro's ratepayers.

Here is the NMB page info: http://www.nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/Content.aspx?objID=409
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True,

Though I make it my responsibility to make sure that I keep the 'critters' under control on my property. The last thing that I want is an invasion. I do my best to do the basics right, keeping things sanitised.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
True,

Though I make it my responsibility to make sure that I keep the 'critters' under control on my property. The last thing that I want is an invasion. I do my best to do the basics right, keeping things sanitised.
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Correct but, as you know, it's not always the property dweller's fault.
 
Xarog said:
Cockroaches are actually fascinating animals.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0M614H20150310
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I have no problem with roaches, only pointing out that diseases carried by rats is generally more lethal, than that of roaches, in fact the diseases roaches carries around affects people more severally with a compromised immune system than any thing else, which means regardless they are less of a threat.

I see in this thread it being mentioned that rat populations will be controlled rather than eradicated, while that may be true it needs close study of what urban populations look like and what natural populations look like, it will be much more evident that natural occurrence will be far, far, far ,far ,far less than normally found in urban areas. Surprisingly in a natural enviroment keeps their numbers much better in check, due to the lack of food and natural enemies that feed on them like, snakes, mongoose, birds of prey, ect.

While roaches does present a significant health risk, rats have life threatening diseases that they spread around, while the black rat doesn't feed on meat at all, the brown rat, if presented will feed on meat, 30grams or less a day, but it is not it's main food source and can live without it.So I don't get where, rats keep roach populations under control, as roaches them selves also have a very limited impact in their natural habit as well, their is no direct evidence that I am aware off that, rat populations keeps roaches population in check in the urban enviroment, much less in a natural enviroment, many species in general do have the tendency with abundance of food sources to be more selective with what they eat, and it wouldn't be out of the question, or easily observed that roaches will flourish in their environments with or without rats.
 
wizardofid said:
I have no problem with roaches, only pointing out that diseases carried by rats is generally more lethal, than that of roaches, in fact the diseases roaches carries around affects people more severally with a compromised immune system than any thing else, which means regardless they are less of a threat.

I see in this thread it being mentioned that rat populations will be controlled rather than eradicated, while that may be true it needs close study of what urban populations look like and what natural populations look like, it will be much more evident that natural occurrence will be far, far, far ,far ,far less than normally found in urban areas. Surprisingly in a natural enviroment keeps their numbers much better in check, due to the lack of food and natural enemies that feed on them like, snakes, mongoose, birds of prey, ect.

While roaches does present a significant health risk, rats have life threatening diseases that they spread around, while the black rat doesn't feed on meat at all, the brown rat, if presented will feed on meat, 30grams or less a day, but it is not it's main food source and can live without it.So I don't get where, rats keep roach populations under control, as roaches them selves also have a very limited impact in their natural habit as well, their is no direct evidence that I am aware off that, rat populations keeps roaches population in check in the urban enviroment, much less in a natural enviroment, many species in general do have the tendency with abundance of food sources to be more selective with what they eat, and it wouldn't be out of the question, or easily observed that roaches will flourish in their environments with or without rats.
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I don't know why you're reacting to my post like what I was linking to maligns cockroaches. I thought the article showing that they're capable of social communication and they use it to make complex group-based decisions was a glowing recommendation of an amazing feat for a species of insect, especially the way the roaches make the decisions communally despite having differing personalities. It's evidence of a highly-evolved insect brain.
 
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