Stray Cats In China Battle Rodent Plague

BEIJING -- Stray cats rounded up in a remote west China city are being used to catch rodents that have infested surrounding pasture lands.

Some 150 strays – dubbed by Chinese media as the "cat army" – were turned loose on the range lands outside Bole city in May to fight what the government calls a plague of rats. The state-run Xinhua News Agency says that the cats were brought in, along with tons of poisonous rat pellets.

The Bole government said in late June that rat holes had decreased by more than half. The Xinhua report on Friday quoted a Bole official as saying the cats were proving valuable.

Rodents and other pests have grown more troublesome on the vast grasslands as a result of overgrazing and killing off traditional predators like foxes.

Comments

[apposite01]

02:02 PM on 08/26/2011

Somehow I don't get the impression this will end well for the "cat army".

[Razrback11]

03:43 AM on 08/24/2011

Chairman Meow's army is advancing...

[Mr Anonymous]

09:00 PM on 08/22/2011

That sounds like a great idea. Just like that one a number of years back with birds eating the crops so they got rid of the birds. Then came the masses of insects since there was nothing to eat them.

[zelduh]

05:18 PM on 08/22/2011

Thirty-five years ago, I had to put my beloved cat down cuz she was poisoned. The memory of that experience brings tears to my eyes today. She was in such pain.

[knott wrench]

05:02 PM on 08/22/2011

Great! Will have to get "Farely" the feral cat his Passport. Oh wait, he was a San Francisco
Chronicle Cartoon Cat.

Stiil, it proves that Cats are essential to the ecological basis of the World. Hopefully, the cats dont get secondarily poisoned by eating rats that have eaten the poison.

Defeats the purpose of using the cats in the first place.

[bdazz]

04:47 PM on 08/22/2011

Can someone explain to me why we get cat hair? What do people use it for? I know nothing about this and it makes me sick...what are they doing that for?

[bdazz]

04:44 PM on 08/22/2011

The cats are gonna die...not cool. Can't they come up something else?

[LeeCalif]

04:27 PM on 08/22/2011

The rats will be poisoned and then the feral cats will eat the poisoned rats .....

[sherwoodforest]

04:13 PM on 08/22/2011

Sounds okay except the RAT poison pellets!
Rat poison is counter productive for use in any situation!
A poisoned rat will go on to poison any natural predator. Since it often takes hours of agony for the poisoned rat to die, many owls, hawks and bobcats or lynxes also fall prey....I can only imagine the cat army is in danger too- which makes me think the Chinese will not think twice about then exterminating the cats once they have done their service.

[zelduh]

05:12 PM on 08/22/2011

Agreed. What reckless hor_rid f_ools they are.

FF.

[Nic the wonder puppy]

03:16 PM on 08/22/2011

Ok, I'll give the cats paws up on that

[IolantheLA]

12:37 PM on 08/22/2011

Cats have been helping people keep their grain safe since the days of the Pharaohs. They are as useful as they are beautiful.

Mine kill every fly, roach, cricket, or moth that sets foot (wing?) in our house.

[ccjmfk]

10:30 PM on 08/21/2011

And to think, it is said that a cat's only purpose is to be adored.

[Jebbushnot]

07:35 PM on 08/21/2011

They attack Rats, then bring them to a Republican convention and see what they could do there....also, someone should drop off about 50 cats at FoxNews HQ.

[zelduh]

05:14 PM on 08/22/2011

Hey, even cats have limits on what they will eat . . .

[TedEjr]

05:54 PM on 08/21/2011

I see a host of unintended consequences coming out of this. Ferrel cat overpopulation, disease, including rabies, destruction of other species due to overpopulation of a non-native species (The article does not state that the "army was spayed and neutered.)

Someone definitely did not think this one out.

[dblueII]

12:46 AM on 08/22/2011

I would think they were neutered/ spayed. But then with the Chinese, you never know. Environmentally speaking, consequencesare not really their thing.

[Debbie338]

10:51 AM on 08/22/2011

I'm betting they are not. Since the cats who eat the rats who have eaten the poisoned pellets will also die, the Chinese are probably thinking they didn't need to waste the effort on spaying cats who are going to die anyway.

Unfortunately, it sounds to me like a typically Chinese solution. They are not known for compassion for animals.

[TedEjr]

12:47 PM on 08/22/2011

I considered the pellets also, but since I don't know whether cats will touch carcasses, I did not factor that into my post.

I do concur with your final sentence.

[Zhuubaajie]

10:00 PM on 09/03/2011

The Chinese believe that humans have more rights than animals - yes, even pets. To claim rights in pets is just an extension of the selfishness of the owners, to the detriment of other fellow human beings. I think it was a couple weeks ago when the Canadian Doctors' Association (or some such) recommended that airlines ban the carrying of pets in the passenger compartment, because the animal denders could cause serious allegic reactions in certain human passengers. YOU SHOULD HEAR THAT FURY of all the phone calls of pet owners on to the radio show!! What, make my darling cat suffer for a few hours!! NEVER!! What horrors!! If you have allergies, don't fly, or better yet, just die!

The Chinese looks on, shocked and awed, on this heartfelt display of "individuality" (or damn all others but me) drilled into Westerners as being the highest good.

[babby201]

03:11 PM on 08/21/2011

Reminds me of the cat lady in new york ,of course there were many,
But they would buy cat food in cans ,open the tins and put them n shopping bags , then walk down the street , sliding the open cans under parked cars, you could smell her coming, I hope that was the cat food we smelt.
Anyway our block had some very fat and lazy contented cats, of couree they forgot about rats and mice, which over ran the neighborhood, like roaches in a school cafeteria

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

08:47 PM on 08/22/2011

I hate to tell you but she was feeding the rats too and was adding to the rat population. This happens in surburbia too. This happened to a friend of mine because the neighborhood 'cat lady' was leaving out cans of food and as soon as the sun went down, the rats came out. Unfortunately, the rats began to infest peoples houses and the 'cat lady' refused to stop even after being contacted by the county health department.