Thursday, December 04, 2008

Mosman's planned Rat Wars

I was greatly struck by a story, Rat attack: Mosman ready for rodent invasion, in today's Sydney Morning Herald. For those who do not know Sydney, Mosman is a posh, leafy suburb on the northern side of the Harbour.

The story is simple enough and is worth a read. By destroying the immediate natural environment around Mosman, the early European settlers drove out the native rat. Its place was taken by the European black rat, a species that has acquired a very bad reputation because of its role in great plagues such as the Black Death.

Now the plan is to trial the reintroduction of the native rat to Mosman in the hope that it will drive out the black rat. Sort of a good rat, bad rat story.

4 comments:

Aldhis said...

Interesting rat story Jim, maybe you could write a book about a rat war and filmed it. :)
I always love Ratatouille and Mickey Mouse. Like Disney said, "It all start with a mouse" (well, not a rat actually :P)

Jim Belshaw said...

Grin, Aldhis. Actually, the story could well be used as a basis for a movie- kids, though, rather than horror.

Anonymous said...

Jim, Just imagine this being used as a metaphor! The possibilities are endless.

Jim Belshaw said...

You, know, Ramana, I think that your are right. This bears thinking about!