Free Republic

Cost of efforts could top $380,000. Boulder officials have finalized plans to relocate hundreds of prairie dogs inhabiting four city-owned sites, and to euthanize hundreds more. The plans call for spending as much as $388,400 on removing the rodents, capturing and euthanizing others, fumigating those left behind in their burrows and installing metal barriers so they don’t return. According to the 19-page document on the issue, prepared by interim City Manager Stephanie Grainger, about 500 prairie dogs need to be relocated ... “I’m not sure how we’ll end up doing it,” said Bev Johnson, a city planner familiar with the...

The Palestinian Authority's official news agency Wafa says Israel is using rats to drive Arab families out of their homes in the Old City of Jerusalem. Has the Palestinian Authority smelled a rat in east Jerusalem? Photo: Courtesy/Joanna Servaes Slideshow: Pictures of the week In the past the news agency, which is controlled and funded by PA President Mahmoud Abbas's office, has accused Israel of using wild pigs to drive Palestinians out of their homes and fields in the West Bank. In the reports, Palestinians were quoted by the agency as saying that they had seen Israelis release herds of...

MYFOXNY.COM -- The NYPD's Harbor Unit, patrolling the East River near the United Nations as a part of security operations for the Pope's visit, rescued an apparently sick beaver from the water. The ever-vigilant harbor cops spotted the animal, which appeared to be having trouble breathing and struggled to swim, not far from the U.N., where the Pope was speaking. >>VIDEO: SCUBA COPS BRING BEAVER ASHORE >>VIDEO: OFFICER DESCRIBES BEAVER RESCUE Police Officer John Angus caught the beaver in a safety noose, pulled it aboard, and placed it in a bucket with water. Officers brought the beaver to shore for...

MACCLENNY, Fla. (AP) — State wildlife officials say an animal sneaking around Baker County is not an orangutan as originally thought but likely a fox squirrel. Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission laid doughnuts at a base of a tree after residents reported seeing a — quote — “big orange ball of fur.” Fish and Wildlife investigator Ken Holmes says the animal was probably an orange phase fox squirrel. The Florida Times-Union reports the red-orange animals can grow to be about two feet tall and can climb in trees. (Copyright 2007 by

Whispers started with the first few gunshots. Neighborhood rumors had it that a cotton farmer who leases land from the Chickasaw Basin Authority near the Wolf River was shooting deer on the property. So when residents discovered nearly 40 of the animals had been killed and left to rot in the surrounding woods, they reacted with horror. "I don't like to see (deer) slaughtered, and that's what happened down there in these cotton fields," said Brenda Flanagan, a nearby resident. "To me it's inhumane. ... What's gone is gone, and I would hate to see that ever happen again." Angry...

Click the following link: Two Billion Rats of Lake Dongting

Iranian intelligence operatives recently detained over a dozen squirrels found within the nation's borders, claiming the rodents were serving as spies for Western powers determined to undermine the Islamic Republic. "In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran's borders," state-sponsored news agency IRNA reported. "The squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services." Iranian police commander Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqadam confirmed the report, saying that a number of squirrels had been caught bearing foreign spy gear within Iran's borders. "I heard of this but...

GRASSY KEY — The U.S. Department of Agriculture returned to Grassy Key this week to conduct the next phase of its Gambian rat extermination project. The agency's Wildlife Control team is back in town to determine how the population fared after more than 1,000 poison bait stations were spread throughout the area. While wildlife officials are on the ground gathering data, hidden cameras will provide a look at where the remaining rat population is moving. The results from those pictures will help dictate the agency's next move. "Based on what we take pictures of ... we may go into some...

BEIJING - People living in communities surrounding a large shallow lake have been overrun by field mice after floodwaters drove the rodents out of islands on the lake, state media reported Monday. The mouse invasion began on June 23 when the Yangtze River flooded, raising the water level in central China's Dongting Lake and submerging mouse holes on lake islands, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Now, an estimated 2 billion mice are ravaging crops in 22 counties around the lake, and authorities were rushing to construct walls and ditches to keep the rodents out. Residents have killed more than...

Deep in the heart of the Florida Keys, wildlife officials are laying bait laced with poison to try to wipe out a colony of enormous African rats that could threaten crops and other animals. U.S. federal and state officials are beginning the final phase of a two-year project to eradicate the Gambian pouched rats, which can grow to the size of a cat and began reproducing in the remote area about eight years ago. "This is the only place in the United States where this is occurring," said Gary Witmer, a biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Wildlife...

New Orleans, La. -- Today, after learning that New Orleans plans to poison rats living in the city as part of its "Rat Busters" program, PETA fired off a letter to Mayor Ray Nagin urging him to work with PETA to develop a humane, effective program to permanently reduce the rat population instead. PETA points out that poisoning rats is not only cruel but also ineffective. Rats from surrounding areas will simply move in to fill the void left by those who were killed, and as long as habitats such as abandoned buildings and food sources such as garbage are...

SAN FERNANDO DE APURE, Venezuela ? As dusk fell on the tropical wetland crawling with iguanas and small crocodilian caimans, Jos? Ismael Jim?nez pointed his harpoon at a rodent about the size of a Labrador retriever. With aim that comes from years of practice, he landed his spear on the back of its head. Farmhands turned hunters stalking the wild capybara, reputedly the world?s largest rodent, on Saturday on Hato Santa Luisa. One of them hurled a harpoon at a wounded capybara. The meat is then salted and dried. But this hunt was not about ridding the country?s southern plains...

Ferrets, rejoice. Or at least, breathe what may be a short-lived sigh of relief. The New York City Council voted 26 to 13 yesterday, with 7 abstentions, to end the bandit status of the small, furry cousin of the weasel, mink and skunk. But the bill legalizing ferrets as pets failed to pass by a veto-proof margin, and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has not been shy about the fact that he is no ferret lover. ''The fight isn't over,'' said Carol Rainey, a Chelsea filmmaker who owns two ferrets. The ferret legalization bill caused an unusually emotional, party-fracturing and, at...

Here's a nasty thought: Your home may have mice. Or worse. And we're not talking about Mickey. How would you know? Short of actually seeing the furry culprits, look for these telltale signs: Rodent droppings (see examples here). Evidence of gnawing on hard surfaces, such as chair legs. Nests, possibly in drawers or inside upholstered furniture. Food and food packages that have been nibbled. If it's any consolation, you're hardly alone. In North America, the roof rat, Norway rat and house mouse are the big three, making their homes right beneath the feet and above the heads of millions of...

Announcing his candidacy to the yawns of the assembled, Biden said of rival Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.), that he was, "[T]he first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." The Rev -- Al Sharpton this time, not Jesse Jackson though both are ever eager for a sound bite -- apparently called Biden and assured him that, "I take a bath every day." Which is more than we needed to know. Accompanying the merriment at Biden's expense was Hillary's Iowa meltdown. Ms. Clinton -- panicked into a premature declaration by Sen. Obama's earlier formation of...

The rodent rampage that caused havoc in 1999 seems to be back, and experts aren't sure why. A strange and unexplained invasion of mice around the Apopka area in 1999 appears poised for a repeat. Health authorities, plant-nursery owners and state agricultural experts said Monday that mice are infiltrating homes, storage areas and offices along U.S. Highway 441 and the northeast shore of Lake Apopka. "One drowned in a secretary's coffee cup," said Tom Stutzman, site manager at Twyford International plant nursery on Fudge Road. "Every day it seems like it's getting worse. Here we go again." Authorities are just...

As city expands into their space, prairie dogs find backyard homes Meet the Neighbors BY ROBIN BRISCOE AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A prairie dog peeks his head from his home while hundreds of his friends and family are cozy within a dirt mound below the earth. "We have got hundreds of them right now," Jim Gerlt, executive pastor at Bacon Heights Baptist Church, said, referring to the prairie dog town spanning 33 acres on the land reserved for the church's new building at 110th Street and Slide Road. "Any time you buy land you're going to have prairie dogs," Gerlt said. "That's just...

For decades, in thousands of laboratories across the country, biomedical researchers have relied on laboratory rats and mice to devise treatments for cancer, heart disease, inflammation and a host of other human afflictions. But what if, despite all the rigorous procedures to ensure valuable test results, many of those studies have been skewed by the most seemingly mundane of factors: what the animals are routinely fed? The concern is that researchers have unwittingly administered hormones present in some rodent chow. A small but growing number of scientists are warning that these hormones are a hidden element in millions of laboratory...

Big Rodents Overrun Washington Seniors "The marmots are coming, the marmots are coming." Seniors living in Wine Country Villa probably wish they had gotten such a warning.

BLANDING, Utah, May 16 (UPI) -- The campground at Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument has been closed because of an outbreak of bubonic plague among rodents, a report said. National Park Service officials said fleas that transmit the so-called Black Death to field mice and chipmunks would be killed with insecticides. When satisfied that has worked, the popular campground 40 miles west of Blanding, Utah, will be reopened, officials said. "We come down on the conservative side when it comes to closing campgrounds," Joe Winkelmaier of U.S. Public Health Service told the Salt Lake Tribune. "We just like to be...

SEATTLE - A water-loving rodent native to South America that has destroyed thousands of acres of wetlands in the southeast has been spotted near Lake Washington. Nutria are semi-aquatic, chocolate-colored rodents that can weigh more than 20 pounds and eat one-quarter of their weight a day in crops and plants of all varieties. Also called coypu, or swamp rats, they burrow through marshes and levies, and females can produce more than a dozen offspring a year. A trapper recently caught nine along the shores of Lake Washington. Two University of Washington students are studying the rodents to determine where they...

Associated Press EL PASO — An airman who was training at Fort Bliss for deployment to Iraq died of a deadly virus linked to rodents, an Air Force official said today. Senior Airman Leonard Hankerson Jr., 24, a security forces patrolman, died Feb. 11 at William Beaumont Army Hospital in El Paso. He was assigned to a squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Ariz. Autopsy results confirmed last week that Hankerson had hantavirus, said Lt. Col. John Paradis, a Luke Air Force Base spokesman. The disease is transmitted to humans when they inhale particles of dried urine, feces...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey man who recently returned from a trip to Liberia has died of an illness that had not been detected in the United States since 1989 but is common in West Africa, state health officials said Thursday. The man died of Lassa fever, a virus spread through rat droppings or urine that can be passed to other people through bodily fluids but not through causal contact, officials said. The 38-year-old man from the Trenton area was not identified by authorities. It is unlikely that other passengers on the man's flight back from Africa or...

The city of Santa Monica, Calif., is in trouble with environmentalists for the way they eradicated their squirrel population: An unannounced, weekend fumigation of the animals' burrows under Palisades Park. City officials had debated the rodent overpopulation issue for more than a year, trying to find a solution which involved neither poison nor pain, reports KCBS-TV's Jennifer Sabih.

Some Cook County employees are treating their workspaces like a pigpen -- and that's why they've got rodent problems. That's the essence of a news release issued Tuesday by Chicago's Streets & Sanitation Department that set off a war of words with Cook County Clerk David Orr. On Monday, the Sun-Times reported complaints from clerk employees working in the basement of the City Hall/Cook County building who said they've been seeing rats in the office. But a surprise city inspection Tuesday turned up no sign of rats. Instead, city officials said, they found mice feces as well as "open food"...

You might not be mindful of them when you cut through alleys to get home from work or school. You might not be thinking about them when you order food in your favorite restaurant. But rats could be frequenting the same restaurants and walkways you do. There are an estimated 500,000 of these furry fiends scurrying around the city, according to a city spokesman. Believe it or not, that's an improvement. "A few years ago we had 1.5 million rats, and 20 years ago there were 6 or 7 million," said Matt Smith, spokesman for the Department of Streets and...

A DeKalb County health inspector found a frozen guinea pig tucked in a freezer at La Sabrosa restaurant, 2857 Buford Highway. According to the inspector's report, the chef said the guinea pig was for his personal consumption, but he could not remember where he bought it or produce a receipt. Inspector Karen Nguyen noted that she "advised operators to keep receipts for all purchases. Any food used for personal consumption must be stored separate and labeled 'personal foods.' " The restaurant scored an 87 on the December inspection, up from its previous 79. An Internet search reveals that, yes indeed,...

The SPCA and police are still puzzled about why three squirrels were nailed to a wooden fence in a University Park neighborhood. The dead squirrels were found Dec. 23, pinned by their shoulders to the fence, which lines an alley near University Boulevard and Hillcrest Road. Police say they're limited in what they can do because they're not sure whether a crime was committed. "Domesticated animals, such as dogs or cats, are protected by the animal-cruelty law," University Park police Officer Lita Snellgrove said. "Squirrels aren't part of that."

Eastpointe Squirrel Feeder Faces Charges Again Woman's Case Drew Widespread Attention In 2002POSTED: 10:00 am EST November 8, 2005 EASTPOINTE, Mich. -- The city of Eastpointe has hauled one of its better-known animal lovers back into court. Luminita Marinas (pictured, right), 65, faces criminal charges of setting out walnuts for squirrels near her home. She faces a maximum fine of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. In a case that drew widespread media coverage in 2002, Marinas pleaded guilty to littering for feeding squirrels. Marinas was placed on six months' probation and fined $250. City officials worked out...

It seemed like a good idea. Let a lone rat loose on a rodent-free island and then figure out how to kill it. That way, when other islands are invaded by rats, you'll know what to do. Scientists figured they'd trap this foot-long varmint in no time. Eighteen weeks later, they finally trapped it with some fresh penguin bait. On another island. Rodents are a problem just about everywhere. In New Zealand, at least 11 islands have been invaded by Norway rats since 1980, in each case after rats from earlier invasions had been eradicated. The invaders disrupt local ecosystems....

Defend your nuts: a parable on property rights and hippies Suppose you were a squirrel. You would work hard to find the biggest nuts, and then stash those large nuts in secret places. You'd only do so if you had a high degree of assurance that those nuts would be there, unrotted and ready to eat, when your life depended on them. You'd have to depend on other squirrels to not steal your nuts, and assure them that you would do likewise. Now suppose that a pack of liberal chinchillas, calling themselves the Friends of the Forest, came along preaching...

Up to 40,000 people are facing hunger in northern Nicaragua because rats have devoured their crops, officials say. The plague has affected Miskito Indian communities which live by the Rio Coco river on the country's Caribbean coast. Last week, the area - which is also regularly hit by flooding - was declared a disaster area, but the rats have yet to be exterminated. A UN team has visited the area to see how much aid is needed. Nicaragua is one of the world's poorest countries. The UN mission is due to release its findings in the capital, Managua, on Friday...

A Newcastle artist has gone into partnership with her pet gerbil on her latest artwork. Sally Madge's gerbil eating its way through a 1933 edition of the New Illustrated Universal Reference Book. The gerbil, which has no name, is just doing what comes naturally, building its nest, at Sally's home. But it is the unwitting star of an exhibition called A Gerbil's Guide to the Galaxy at Newcastle's Waygood Gallery. On display are remnants of the 72-year old book, an empty cage containing a nest of book fragments and a video webcast of the gerbil in action. Sally says she's...

'Oddball rodent' in Laos takes scientists by surprise By John Noble Wilford The New York Times THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2005 They live in the forests and limestone outcrops of Laos. With long whiskers, stubby legs and a long, furry tail, they are rodents but unlike any seen before by wildlife scientists. They are definitely not rats or squirrels, only vaguely like a guinea pig or a chinchilla. And they often show up in Laotian outdoor markets being sold for food. There, visiting scientists came upon the animals and determined that they represented a rare find: an entire new family of...

Furry "pocket pets" like hamsters, mice and rats have sickened up to 30 people in at least 10 states with dangerous multidrug-resistant bacteria, health officials are warning. It is the first known outbreak of salmonella illness tied to such pets and reveals a previously unknown public health risk, officials said. Many of the victims were children; six were hospitalized for vomiting, fever and severe diarrhea. Some passed the illness to others. The germ they had was resistant to five drugs spanning several classes of antibiotics. "This is likely an underrepresentation of how large the problem is," because others who were...

Scientists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History have discovered fossils of a mouse-size mammal that dug and burrowed in search of tasty insects during the Jurassic Age, 150 million years ago. The extinct species has been dubbed Popeye. Its tastes appeared to favor termites, not spinach as its cartoon namesake. But like the famous Sailor Man, this creature has massive forearms, an adaptation that helped it dig.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pet hamsters are a potential source of serious infection, U.S. health officials warned on Thursday. Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) (CDC) describe the case of a 3-year-old boy from Colorado who came down with tularemia after being bitten by a pet hamster. Tularemia is caused by the bug Francisella tularensis, which is one of the most infectious germs known and for that reason is considered a potential biologic terrorism agent. As outlined in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the boy's family purchased six hamsters...

A mouse loose in a Somerset County house may have escaped injury early Tuesday morning, but a woman who lives there wasn't as fortunate. State police at Somerset said 43-year-old Donald Eugene Rugg was attempting to shoot the rodent with a .22-caliber handgun inside the home he shares with 35-year-old Cathy Jo Harris, along Chicken Bone Road, in Lower Turkeyfoot Township, shortly after midnight. As he fired the weapon, Harris reportedly walked into the path of the discharged round and was struck in the right arm with birdshot.

Eliot Spitzer may believe he is a hero to the common man. He certainly loves to embark on the highly visible crusade. The medieval imagery is suitable, in this case, because his latest stroke of genious may bring back one of the worst features of medieval European History; vermin-bourne illness. His brilliance is described as follows: THE next time you see rats roaming around public housing units in New York City, think of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. He and a handful of his colleagues in other states are working hard to make the city's public housing safe — for rats,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SALT LAKE CITY - It's tiny, with a long tail, two sets of whiskers and powerful jaws. And it may just be the newest species of mouse, found on a Philippine island by a group of researchers that included a Utah man. Eric Rickart, the Utah Museum of Natural History's curator of vertebrates, said the 15-gram rodent with a 4-inch tail and strong, sharp toes is unlike any other mouse found on any Philippine island. "We were lucky to catch it," he said. After a month of study from late April...

<p>As part of an ambitious effort to identify genes that cause disease in dogs and humans, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle analyzed DNA collected from 414 dogs representing 85 breeds, including some of the most popular. The findings have sent reverberations though the ranks of dog fanciers, who primp and preen their beloved companions for shows and take great pride in their pedigrees.</p>

PEARISBURG, Va. (AP) -- A cargo van filled with cages carrying more than 700 gerbils, rats, mice and other rodents overturned Thursday, sending the animals scurrying onto a highway and sparking a bizarre large-scale rescue of the small animals. The accident occurred when the van, driven by Thomas Marcinko of Zanesville, Ohio, hit an icy patch of U.S. 460 and ran off the left side of the road, hit a guardrail, overturned and slid onto the shoulder. The animals, being transported in plastic cages, made a break for freedom. "We caught probably 20 or 25 outside the vehicle. We caught...

<p>Whenever there is a discussion of energy policy, many environmentalists and their political allies tout wind power as an alternative to burning fossil fuels. Even if electricity from wind power is more expensive than conventional fuel sources, and it is, wind advocates argue its environmental benefits are worth it. In particular, proponents claim increased reliance on wind power would reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.</p>

It happens every year in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. On February 2, members of the Groundhog Club adorned with top hats and tails, surround the home of Punxsutawney Phil one of the most famous rodents of the world. More than just a tourist attraction, there are people that really do believe if Phil the groundhog sees his shadow we will suffer though six more weeks of winter. Phil is just one example. All across the world there are ceremonies just like the one in Punxsutawney — ceremonies, where people trust animal behavior to indicate the future. Move over, Phil! You've spawned a...

BRASSTOWN, N.C. -- For the past 12 years, on New Year's Eve, this Appalachian town has lowered a possum in a Plexiglas cage from the roof of a gas station at the stroke of midnight. It is called the Possum Drop, and hundreds of people pack downtown Brasstown to see it. This time, Baby New Year was awfully still. And as the crowd soon learned, this possum wasn't just playing possum. It was roadkill. With just hours to go before the festivities, Clay Logan, host of the Possum Drop, said he got a call from a national animal rights organization...

The State Department threatened by the rats The diplomats of the American State Department have to prepare to drive back an invasion of rats and mouse which, according to an internal memo, could break in a building of the seat in work. "Unfortunately, of work (in a wing of the building) temporary openings in the external walls caused which are easy access roads for small rodents", it is underlined in this note which was distributed to the diplomats in Washington. "Even if it (State Department) has an internal service of fight against the noxious animals using the least possible...

SAN DIEGO -- A North County man faces possible prison time for allegedly raising 35,000 rats in cruel and filthy conditions. Peter Springer of Encinitas, Calif., will be arraigned next month on a felony charge of inflicting needless suffering and cruelty to the rodents, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Springer, 62, was co-owner of a company called Rats R Us. The company operated for nearly a decade on 1.5 acres on Union Street near Saxony Road. It sold rats to pet stores and zoos, mostly as food. Prosecutors decided to file charges after animal control officers inspected the rat-breeding...

Brooklyn firehouse's rat patch. It's a rat race at several city firehouses - not just the one shut down by a plague of rodents in Queens. A rat rampage was so bad at a Sunset Park, Brooklyn, firehouse that the firefighters got fleas last month. "The whole firehouse had fleas. Guys were scratching all day long, and we sent the blankets out to the laundromat," said Firefighter Mike Triglianos, 37. The department had to tear up the kitchen to get the rodents out of the walls at 5011 Seventh Ave. - the former home of shuttered Engine 278, now temporarily...

NEW YORK - A blazing building? Not a problem for New York City firefighters. A firehouse infested with vermin? Well, that's a rat of a different color. Horrified members of New York's bravest have temporarily abandoned a firehouse because of massive rat infestation, and fire officials say the building must be gutted to eliminate the pervasive rodent population. "It was like that movie `Willard,'" Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said Wednesday, referring to the film about a social outcast who goes on a rampage and uses his rats to attack colleagues who had been tormenting him. "I...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Firehouse Infestations Widespread, But Cutbacks Curtail Cleanup A day after the Fire Department closed a Jamaica firehouse that was overrun with rats, union officials said the rodent problem was much more widespread. A midday union request for rodent infestation reports yielded complaints from 17 firehouses in four hours, officials said. A frazzled union worker logged the flurry of complaints.