Showing posts with label rats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rats. Show all posts

Sunday 27 October 2024

Cats versus ferrets as rat deterrents and killers

I was keen to write about comparing ferrets and cats as rat deterrents and killers after reading an article in The Sunday Times about a father and son's enterprise in using domestic ferrets to chase rats in Marseille out of their hiding holes, into the open where they are trapped and put in drums and euthanised with carbon dioxide!


My immediate thought on that by the way was that killing animals with carbon dioxide is highly distressing (for the animal and some people 😊) and I wonder whether this father and son enterprise are unwittingly in violation of the animal welfare laws of France. You might find that ridiculous because I am being concerned about the welfare of rats but I don't practice speciesism as some other people do.

In fact, even in Marseille where this couple operate, there are residents there who actually quite like rats and respect them as sentient beings living side-by-side with the Marseille residents.

Anyway, ferrets have a long history of being rat catchers or rat deterrents, more accurately. They rose to prominence during the Black Death when rats were thought to be spreading the plague. The ferret took on semi-mythical status in the 19th century when Victorian Britain was teeming with rodents.

Queen Victoria's official ratcatcher was Jack Black. He lived in south London and became a celebrity. He wore a scarlet waistcoat and a leather sash inset with cast-iron rats. He was known for being able to hide six rats beneath his green topcoat. Black's favoured method for killing rats was ferrets.

The father and son family I mention are the Raynals. They have a team of 20 ferrets dominated by females because females work harder than males. The Raynals ferrets don't aim to kill rats themselves. They just scare them out of their holes into a wide net at which point Alexandre, the son, "tackles them" by which he means he put them in drums and then kills them, as mentioned with carbon dioxide which suffocates them.

The newspaper tells me that "by last Wednesday afternoon, the Raynals had caught about 30 rats in Square Paul Mélizan where [they met the journalist], and in several other small parks and squares. He said he might have 60 by the end of the week. These may sound like modest numbers, but a female rat can give birth to 2500 kittens in a lifetime, which is about three years. If 60 rats means about 30 females, the Raynals will have stopped about 75,000 rats from being born."

Ferrets and cats both have hunting instincts, but they’re effective against rats in different ways, and each has its pros and cons as a deterrent:

Ferrets as Rat Deterrents
  • Strong Hunting Instinct: Ferrets are natural hunters and have been used historically for pest control, especially in tight spaces where cats may not reach.
  • Scent as a Deterrent: Rats often avoid areas where ferrets live, as the ferret's scent is a natural deterrent. They emit a musky odour that rodents find threatening.
  • Aggressive Toward Prey: Ferrets are relentless when chasing small animals and can be very effective at hunting down rats. They’re also more likely to explore small areas where rats hide.
  • Challenges: Ferrets aren’t as independent as cats and need more supervision. They can get into small spaces and may harm themselves if left to roam unsupervised. Also, they don’t necessarily seek out rats independently as cats might.

Cats as Rat Deterrents
  • Natural Stalkers and Predators: Many cats are instinctual hunters and enjoy stalking and catching small animals, including rats. Their presence alone can make rats wary of sticking around.
  • Lower Maintenance: Cats are typically more independent, requiring less supervision than ferrets, and are often content to patrol their environment on their own.
  • Ongoing Control: Cats are often better at providing ongoing control since they tend to stick to their territory and are vigilant about their surroundings.
  • Challenges: Not all cats are interested in hunting, especially well-fed domestic cats. Some cats might ignore rats entirely, making them unreliable if they lack the hunting drive.

In Summary

If you need a dedicated rat deterrent, a ferret may be more reliable in the short term for flushing out rats from their hiding spots. However, a cat may provide a longer-term solution due to its territorial nature and independence.

What about killing rats?


When it comes to actively hunting and killing rats, both ferrets and cats have distinct strengths, though one might be more effective than the other based on certain factors.

Ferrets as Rat Killers

  • Instinctive and Aggressive Hunters: Ferrets are naturally inclined to hunt small animals and are known to be tenacious in tracking down and killing prey, including rats. They are quick, agile, and relentless, which can make them very effective at catching and killing rats once they locate them.
  • Adaptability to Tight Spaces: Ferrets can maneuver into small, confined areas where rats tend to hide. This agility allows them to root out rats from burrows, walls, and other hiding spots that cats might not access.
  • Focus on Smaller Prey: While ferrets are skilled hunters, some larger rats might put up more of a fight, and ferrets, being relatively small, might not always win against a particularly large or aggressive rat.

Cats as Rat Killers

  • Larger Size and Hunting Skills: Many cats, particularly outdoor or semi-feral cats, have both the strength and skills to kill rats, even larger ones. Cats are stealthy and are adept at the "stalk and pounce" method, which can be lethal for rodents.
  • Selective Hunting Behavior: Some cats are excellent hunters and will kill rats, while others, especially domesticated cats, might ignore them. Cats are more likely to kill rats if they have a strong hunting drive, but this varies widely between individual cats.
  • Efficiency in Patrolling Territory: Once a cat establishes its territory, it will often keep it largely rat-free, hunting down any that wander into its domain. This is effective for long-term rodent control, as cats tend to "patrol" their area.

Who’s Better at Killing Rats?

If the goal is a consistent, proactive rodent killer, a ferret might excel at flushing out and killing rats in a targeted manner. However, a highly motivated cat, especially one with a strong hunting drive, can be very effective at killing rats, particularly larger ones.

------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Thursday 14 March 2024

In terms of serious disease, rats are no more dangerous than other animals

Maite van Gerwen is an animal scientist running a consultancy, Amino Animalis, in, I believe Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She believes that rats (usually the brown or sewer rat) are treated unfairly. She believes that our relationship with rats is unbalanced and a gross example of speciesism.

She also believes that in terms of serious disease, rats are no more dangerous than other animals. They've been demonised in Europe and across the world since that dreadful event, the Black Death from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries in which an estimated 25 million were killed.



The rat is blamed for the spread of the bubonic plague which today can be cured with antibiotics. You may remember that the cat was mercilessly slaughtered because at the time people thought the cat spread the disease but afterwards they decided it was the rats because fleas carrying the disease were present on the rats.

However, Gerwen says that in 2018 there was a report from the universities of Oslo and Ferrara which debunked the theory that rats spread the bubonic plague. These reports found that lice and fleas carried by humans not rats were the primary cause of the disease's spread.

Gerwen wants people to treat rats with a bit more respect. They keep themselves fastidiously clean and they clean each other despite living in sewers and in very dirty conditions.

Sewer workers appreciate their presence because they tend to de-block sewers by eating lots of fat residue which has been dumped into the sewer from people's kitchens.

She is referring to speciesism on a grand scale. The rat is certainly the animal that is most subject to negative speciesism.

Gerwen describes the rat as intelligent, cheeky and funny and a social opportunist. She says that, "if a cat or dog is killed, the animal ambulance will come and pick it up. A dead rat is left lying around, [it] goes in the garbage bin."

And she added that "sometimes the site of a rat is interpreted as a nuisance and a signal to take action. We must also ask ourselves what exactly is the nuisance?".

She has dismissed the fears of the rat as a transmitter of disease as mentioned and has urged the people of Amsterdam to learn to live with the rat as their neighbour. To be at risk of infection from a rat, an individual will have to be bitten by one or have contact with their excrement and urine.

She added that "where there are people there are rats. Why do we want certain animals around us and not others? In new build houses, facilities are made in the cavity to provide bats with a home. Rats are controlled with clamps, glue plates and poison."

In conclusion, she thinks rats are unjustly victimised. I agree with her. People are frightened of rats anyway. They have a very negative image thanks to centuries of negative publicity. It's going to be impossible to get rid of that indoctrination which is firmly fixed into our minds.

But if you think about it she's correct. Everything I read about this animal except for the article in The Times newspaper which is the source of this article, is very negative about rats. People take pleasure in killing them in anyway possible perhaps using dogs or shooting them for fun. It's an endless process of extermination. But is it fair and wise and correct?

The Latin, scientific name for the sewer rat is Rattus norvegicus.

-------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Monday 24 April 2023

Rats as big as cats in the UK! Rat catching cats don't stand a chance.

To those of us living in the UK we are seeing more headlines about rats getting larger. They say they are as big as cats. If it's true there is little prospect of domestic cats being usefully employed as rat deterrents. Today's domestic cat ratter will just run away from these monsters.

Massive rat as big as a cat
Massive rat as big as a cat. Image by MikeB based on an image in the public domain.

But in general, I think they are mythical. People like to believe that they are very large. It adds to their story of woe. But if they are larger, it must be an evolutionary process over a very long time.

Animals may evolve to be larger over time as a result of natural selection. Larger individuals may have advantages in terms of survival and reproduction. For example, larger animals may be better able to defend themselves against predators, compete for resources, or attract mates. Additionally, larger size can confer other benefits, such as the ability to travel further or withstand harsh environmental conditions.

However, it's important to note that evolution is not always directional, and animals can also evolve to become smaller or stay the same size over time, depending on the specific environmental pressures they face. Furthermore, evolution is a slow process that occurs over many generations, and there are many factors that can influence the size of a species, such as the availability of resources, predation pressure, and climate change.

AI says this about rats getting larger

There have been reports in the media suggesting that rats in the UK are getting larger, but the evidence for this is mixed and controversial.

Some studies have suggested that rats in urban areas may be increasing in size due to factors such as access to more food and reduced predation pressure. However, other studies have found no evidence of size increase and suggest that the average size of rats in the UK has remained relatively constant over time.

It's important to note that size variation in rats can also be influenced by a number of other factors, including genetics, environmental conditions, and disease. Additionally, different rat populations may exhibit different size trends depending on their location and specific ecological conditions.

Overall, while there may be some evidence to suggest that rats in certain areas of the UK are getting larger, it's difficult to make generalizations about the entire population without more comprehensive data.

Cold climates

Normally animals of the same species living in cold climates are larger such as the puma in North America compared to the same species in South America.

The same difference applies to the tiger. The Siberian is larger than Bengal. The Sumatran is the smallest. Evolution ensures that the bigger animals can keep warmer because of an improved mass to surface area ratio.

This is supported by prey animals also being smaller in warmer climates which feeds into the evolutionary process ensuring that predators such as the tiger is smaller too.

On that basis rats in the UK may be getting bigger to keep warmer as it enhances survival and the evolutionary process is supported by the presence of abundant food supplies because of an increased human population in the UK.

Ratters

The old idea that domestic cats are good at deterring and killing rats hardly applies today. Domestic cats are not great rat catchers. They can be intimidated by a big rat. 

They don't want to risk being injured so leave it alone. It depends on the individual cat. They may even run away from a marauding rat. Rats can be very aggressive and courageous. They are good predators themselves. They've been involved in the extinction of some species on islands.

GB's greatest rat catcher

The UK's greatest rat catching cat was a female living in and around the now non-existent White City Stadium. She is said to have killed no fewer than 12,480 rats in her life. A daily average of 5-6.

A formidable achievement which reflects the reason why the wildcat was domesticated in the first place around 10k years ago. They were utilitarian, working cats as well as companions.

Companions now

Domestic cats nowadays are almost exclusively companions and entertainers to their caregivers.

Featured Post

i hate cats

i hate cats, no i hate f**k**g cats is what some people say when they dislike cats. But they nearly always don't explain why. It appe...

Popular posts