Public Urged To Eradicate Rats Before The Rainy Season

[george]

Public urged to eradicate rats before the rainy season

BANGKOK: -- The Public Health Ministry on Thursday called on the public to cooperate in getting rid of rats before the rainy season arrives.

Director General Thawat Suntrajarn of the Disease Control Department said the ministry has declared April as the month of rat elimination during which all departments would jointly destroy rodents to prevent their rapid reproduction.

Food leftovers and oil palm trees are respectively perfect nutrition and habitat of rats.

Dr. Thawat described rat eradication as an important public health mission as rats are hosts of many infectious diseases.

Specialists from the Health Department displayed methods in trapping rats usually hidden in holes under cracked building grounds.

Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab ruled out news reports that the ministry was home to thousands of rats.

He said that the display of carcasses was part of a demonstration of the ministry’s pilot project on rat eradication, adding that the actual number of rats caught on the ministry’s premise was only 40-50.

--TNA 2008-03-20

[jdinasia]

Seems to be happening already! Whilst driving from BKK to Tak I saw many roadside stalls selling grilled rat! Many of which advertised 'grain fed rat' -- well Nuu Naa (rat from rice fields)

[hanibal7]

The more i live in thailand the more i am amazed at these brilliant,early decisions to do something.RAT eradication in bk in april suggests a realy forward thinking government who have noticed that rats are evident in bk places.

the mind boggles as to what decisions are next.

crack down on drugs.

crack down on wearing helmets

crack down on katoy thieves

3 cheers for the clecer governemnet officials hip hip hoorah

[AlexLah]

Ok Ok OK,

I have catched a rat.

Now, how to kill it?

Where are the guidelines from the Public Health Ministry on how to safely kill a rat.

After I kill it where to dispose?

Please Public Health Ministry if you read this, provide us with a standard operating procedure.

[vegas]

What about eradicating some of the bigger rats that I see on the news?

[peter991]

If anyone is serious about catching rats (humanely or otherwise), this is the best link I have found:

Link

I liked the Rat Zapper 2000, pictured below.

Peter

[jdinasia]

The more i live in thailand the more i am amazed at these brilliant,early decisions to do something.RAT eradication in bk in april suggests a realy forward thinking government who have noticed that rats are evident in bk places.

the mind boggles as to what decisions are next.

crack down on drugs.

crack down on wearing helmets

crack down on katoy thieves

3 cheers for the clecer governemnet officials hip hip hoorah

someone is stealing 'katoy' ????

[peter991]

I liked this one best:

crack down on wearing helmets

Yes, there's still a few people wearing motorcycle helmets ... how can the police get their 300 baht tea money is people keep wearing them ????

Peter

[PhilHarries]

Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab ruled out news reports that the ministry was home to thousands of rats.

He said that the display of carcasses was part of a demonstration of the ministry’s pilot project on rat eradication, adding that the actual number of rats caught on the ministry’s premise was only 40-50.

--TNA 2008-03-20

Very comforting to know that the Public Health Ministry only yielded 40 - 50 rats to the catchers. I guess these are the ones transferred to inactive posts.

[Big A]

CAN'T YOU ALL SEE?........IT WAS THE FARANGS WHO BROUGHT THE RATS TO THAILAND.

[astral]

He said that the display of carcasses was part of a demonstration of the ministry’s pilot project on rat eradication, adding that the actual number of rats caught on the ministry’s premise was only 40-50.

Even a population of 40-50 in ONE government office is an appalling admission.

[bino]

Ok Ok OK,

I have catched a rat.

Now, how to kill it?

Where are the guidelines from the Public Health Ministry on how to safely kill a rat.

After I kill it where to dispose?

Please Public Health Ministry if you read this, provide us with a standard operating procedure.

I'm with you... great for the Public Health Ministry to tell people to eradicate rodents, but they didn't exactly say how to do it!

[Scott]

Farangs didn't bring rats--they brought the diseases that mean they need to be destroyed now!

[plachon]

He said that the display of carcasses was part of a demonstration of the ministry’s pilot project on rat eradication, adding that the actual number of rats caught on the ministry’s premise was only 40-50.

Even a population of 40-50 in ONE government office is an appalling admission.

I'm surprised the tally was so low! Wonder if they included Chalerm's son amongst them?

This proclamation does seem very ..........Maoist. Didn't they have similar rat-eradication or sparrow eradication drives back in 1960's China that all kind of went pair-shaped in the end? Amazing Thailand indeed!

[kankaroo]

Remind you of anything ?

Chairman MAO v Pigeons

[Tony Clifton]

Remind you of anything ?

Chairman MAO v Pigeons

Sparrows.

[Buzby]

Can they not have a year off???

It is the year of the Rat after all

[hansnl]

I liked this one best:

crack down on wearing helmets

Yes, there's still a few people wearing motorcycle helmets ... how can the police get their 300 baht tea money is people keep wearing them ????

Peter

Prices have gone up lately?

In the Northeast it is still 200 Baht.

And here it is lunch money, because the highest grade of activity is between 10:30 and !3:00.

[hansnl]

Farangs didn't bring rats--they brought the diseases that mean they need to be destroyed now!

Oh dear, I thought the farang were the rats/

Oops, sorry

[BigSnake]

Eradicate the rat, not a snow ball chance in hel_l.

[ratcatcher]

Eradicate the rat, not a snow ball chance in hel_l.

Erm.......time for me to get involved?

[Ricardo]

Remind you of anything ?

Chairman MAO v Pigeons

Sparrows.

Flies.

and my Mum tells me, they were all paid to collect jam-jars of caterpillars, during the war, at 1/2-penny per jar !

[brahmburgers]

there are hardly any wild mammals in northern Thailand - at least none that I've seen, and I've hiked several times a week for ten years up crags and over hill and dale. ....other than tiny little mice. Found a hedgehog quill once, wow-big deal.

Dogs, chickens, people and rats have taken over.

Of course there are rats in cities and towns. If the 'powers that be' get their way, the remainder of Thailand will be cemented and blacktopped and buildings smeared with with black fungi will prevail everywhere. Perhaps someone will breed a type of rat that will lick off the black fungi - not likely.

Actually, rats probably do a lot of useful, yet unappreaciated services. They eat all sorts of lesser vermin, and probably keep the ubiquitous Thai garbage from spreading farther than it does. There's a butchery section of a local market here, as big as a basketball court, and anytime, day or night, cat-sized rats can be seen zipping around. Rat heaven.

[geriatrickid]

CAN'T YOU ALL SEE?........IT WAS THE FARANGS WHO BROUGHT THE RATS TO THAILAND.

ahhh so that's why the brown rat is called rattus norvegicus, or the Norway rat.

[Ricardo]

CAN'T YOU ALL SEE?........IT WAS THE FARANGS WHO BROUGHT THE RATS TO THAILAND.

ahhh so that's why the brown rat is called rattus norvegicus, or the Norway rat.

So how did the farangs smuggle the rats past Customs ?

[Big A]

Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) are originally native to northern China. They must have come via Mae Sai in Chiang Rai province!!

[geriatrickid]

Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) are originally native to northern China. They must have come via Mae Sai in Chiang Rai province!!

Appreciably the Norway is an "old world" rat most likely owing its origins to somewhere in central asia, but still, such fun to be had with the name. One can only wonder what the English were (wrongly) thinking when they blamed their infestations on the Norwegians. Maybe they were looking forward a century and anticipating the political positions of that nation, but I digress. It is a tough resourceful creature and not easily eradicated. So perhaps, it is not as insulting a name as one would think. The best that can be hoped for in BKK is that the poplation will be reduced somewhat, but it will never go away as long as there are ready breeding areas and plentiful food sources.

Edited March 23, 2008 by geriatrickid

[WISteve]

What a timely string!

I was just talking to the teelack on the phone last night and she was struggling to tell me what she had for dinner.

"You know, Mickey Mouse? Papa bring home from farm last night."

Seems there is a bumper crop up in Nong Bhua Lamphu Province this spring and papa is trapping them along the edges of the fields.

Protein is protein up in Isaan.

A week before it was Cicadas. It seems that chirping in the woods is a dinner bell of sorts to some people.......

~WISteve

[BigSnake]

Of all time in the Year of the RAT!! Sure this must br a joke.

[john b good]

One of the best ways to reduce the rat population is to trap a few rats and put them together in a cage.

Hunger will get the better of them and they will start eating each other.

When you have perhaps only a couple of rats left release them (they are now cannibal rats with a taste for their own)

Do this on a larger scale and surely the rat population "those that are members of the rodent family" will surely be reduced.

Perhaps a similar approach might be taken with the two leg variety.