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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / November 2004Cats needed
See www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=6728768&s ection=news "Mice-infested Bulgarian region seeks Pied Piper Fri 5 November, 2004 13:35 SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria has declared a state of disaster around its Black Sea port of Bourgas because of an infestation of millions of mice. Officials said a combination of damp weather, a bumper harvest and new farming techniques had touched off the biggest explosion in the region's mouse population for a decade. Between 100 and 150 million of the rodents are estimated to be in the region and are multiplying rapidly, officials said. "We have declared a state of disaster in the region ... This is the highest level seen in 10 years," said Liliana Vassileva, head of the Bourgas Agricultural Protection Agency. Specialists say the hordes of hungry rodents could damage next year's crops by chomping their way through seeds planted out for the winter. There is also a danger they could spread disease. Officials in Bourgas, 400 km (249 miles) east of the capital Sofia, said it needed 15 million levs to poison the rodents and had asked the government for help. "Mouse invasion endangers Bourgas!" said the Web site for Bourgas Port, next to a drawing of a plump rodent. Government agronomist Margarita Yaneva said other regions in Bulgaria were suffering from a similar plague. "Some years are just favourable for pests," she said. "Older people call this phenomenon 'The Year of the Mouse'." The explosion in the rodent population was caused mainly by farmers ploughing at levels too shallow to break up mouse nests, Vassileva said. Other facts were the wet weather -- conditions mice find conducive for reproduction -- and the bumper food supply created by this summer's record harvest. Normally, farmers in Bulgaria just torch their fields to kill the pests, though the practice is illegal. But many fear doing so in Bourgas could pose a danger to the nearby LUKOIL Neftochim refinery." What they need is not a pied piper - they need a Waffles and a Nikki ;-) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove fame & fortune h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$ --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- > See > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Black > Sea port of Bourgas because of an infestation of millions of mice. danger they could spread disease. > Officials in Bourgas, 400 km (249 miles) east of the capital Sofia, said > it > needed 15 million levs to poison the rodents and had asked the government > for > help. <snipped> > What they need is not a pied piper - they need a Waffles and a Nikki ;-) > > Cheers, helen s ...but definitely *not* a Waffles and a Nikki and the *poison* mentioned in the article! Mary > ...but definitely *not* a Waffles and a Nikki and the *poison* > mentioned in the article! Seriously: why do they use poison, and not cats? Wouldn't some of the poison get on the very crops they're trying to save? Cats helped immensely with saving crops from rodents, way back when civilization was first getting started. That's how they became our friends. And here, we have all these homeless cats in the world - why not send them to Bulgaria rather than euthanizing them? Joyce > > ...but definitely *not* a Waffles and a Nikki and the *poison* > > mentioned in the article! [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Joyce Absolutely. And, of course, my message was also mostly tongue-in-cheek because I assume that Waffles and Nikki are not really planning a trip to the feast in Bulgaria! MaryL > Seriously: why do they use poison, and not cats? Wouldn't some of the > poison get on the very crops they're trying to save? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > friends. And here, we have all these homeless cats in the world - why > not send them to Bulgaria rather than euthanizing them? And I'd bet that they have quite enough cats even in Bulgaria to take care of the problem.  SignatureMarina, Frank and Nikki marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >> Seriously: why do they use poison, and not cats? Wouldn't some of the >> poison get on the very crops they're trying to save? [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > And I'd bet that they have quite enough cats even in Bulgaria to take > care of the problem. Unfortunately that's not the case. There are so many stray dogs in Bulgaria that they seem to kill most of the stray cats. When I went back there the last time (in 2000), you could see packs of homeless dogs on the streets, but not a single cat. From what I've heard from friends and relatives since then, the situation hasn't changed :-( Maybe they can train the dogs to hunt mice? :-) Nadia (lurker) (and Ashley) Nad <nospam@nospam.net> had some very interesting things to say about Re: Cats needed: >Unfortunately that's not the case. There are so many stray dogs in >Bulgaria that they seem to kill most of the stray cats. When I went back >there the last time (in 2000), you could see packs of homeless dogs on >the streets, but not a single cat. From what I've heard from friends and >relatives since then, the situation hasn't changed :-( >Maybe they can train the dogs to hunt mice? :-) There are breeds of dog designed to hunt small animals. Various terrier-types come to mind. Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > >Maybe they can train the dogs to hunt mice? :-) > > There are breeds of dog designed to hunt small animals. Various > terrier-types come to mind. I still say, let them ship the mice to my house for my cats to have a feast. Maybe then they will leave the birds and chipmunks alone. Last night someone brought in a chipmunk which hid in the toe of my shoe. I put the shoe out in the garden and locked all the cats in for the night. This morning someone brought a dead chipmunk in and ate it. Maybe it was the same one. It could have been a baby for all I know. I can't stand when they kill these sweet little critters. > What they need is not a pied piper - they need a Waffles and a Nikki ;-) Nikki is packing as we speak. And drooling. One hundred to a hundred and fifty *million* mowsies!!! SignatureMarina, Frank and Nikki marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki > Nikki is packing as we speak. And drooling. One hundred to a hundred and > fifty *million* mowsies!!! Billy wants to go along but I won't let him. Tell Nikki to send boxes of live mousies to my house so the kitties here can have a feast. >> Nikki is packing as we speak. And drooling. One hundred to a hundred and >> fifty *million* mowsies!!! > > Billy wants to go along but I won't let him. Tell Nikki to send boxes of > live mousies to my house so the kitties here can have a feast. Boyfriend wants to come but I won't let him either. He would like to demonstrate his mousie tennis skills and how he can bat the poor dead thing from hand to hand (so to speak) in mid air. Again and again. We went down the road of "see me springing in the air with my mousie" when my aunt and uncle were here. It did not impress. Ewwww, the cat's got something in the kitchen, put him outside with it, quick! Ah, he was so prou of his skill, too :-( I think he'd love to come and help out. Tweed "Pat" <spam.me.not.pdavis@fidnet.com> had some very interesting things to say about Re: Cats needed: >Billy wants to go along but I won't let him. Tell Nikki to send boxes of >live mousies to my house so the kitties here can have a feast. Reminds me of a Web comic I like, that had a storyline with the cats hunting mice. Start at http://www.w00t-comic.net/20030201.html and go forward until she manages to get the cats out of the apartment. Fair warning: some strips do contain language that at least in the US cannot be used on broadcast TV. :-) Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > Reminds me of a Web comic I like, that had a storyline with the cats > hunting mice. Start at http://www.w00t-comic.net/20030201.html I love this comic!! The 2/15/03 one was really funny, where Mini-me discoveres that "dog = wet". :) Joyce > Nikki is packing as we speak. And drooling. One hundred to a hundred and > fifty *million* mowsies!!! Mice? UGH. There's GROUND on their fur and they're tough and gamey and not enough meat on the bones...no way. Smokey wants to know why he should leave his nice full food bowls for dirty, smelly rodents that don't lie still and let you eat them. --Fil |
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