On Mon, 5 Oct 2009 21:19:38 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"lloyd" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 21:46:00 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"lloyd" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 19:25:40 +0100, "mark"
wrote:


"lloyd" wrote in message
om...
On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 18:12:20 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Derek Turner" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:22:05 +0100, lloyd wrote:

Anything we can do to encourage the hedgehogs, but not the rats
from
visiting the garden? I have both

1. Terrier from working lines.
2. Huge cat.


Yes get some terrier men in.for your rats. Mine come about every six
weeks
to sort them out.
I do have a huge cat, but he's a bit of a wuss about tackling the big
ones
with the brown chisel teeth. He sorts out the small ones, no problem,
but
those big ones, they're a job for the terriers, he claims ;-)
And he's right. some of the big ones even give the terriers a run for
their
money, antiseptic needed to dab their bleeding noses where they've
been
well
bitten by a big rat. They don't seem to mind though, it seems to make
them
more determined..

Tina

That sounds completely horrid. Why should anyone want to kill a rat
just because it's a rat, is that a crime for the poor beast to be a
rat? And if you feel you really must kill them why do it in such a
nasty way! I dread to think what you feel we should do with our feral
children.


They are not just rats though. They are a danger to health

No more so than many other animals or insects such as hedgehogs,
pigeons, flies, deer.

Yes, they are, they carry Weils disease through their urine

No *they* don't. They *can* carry it but then so can many animals
including dogs and cats. Even slaughterhouse workers have been known
to catch it.

and if you pick
it up from them you can kiss your kidneys goodbye.

Rubbish, though it can happen.

Why do you think the
local council will come out to kill them for you?

Old habits die hard and I suppose they need to waste our taxes on
something. The best salesmen in the world are pest control companies.
The most gullible buyers are the public.


Are you serious?

Of course I am.

Whether you like rats or not (and I have a sneaking regard
for them as they are so clever)

Granted.

the council come out to kill them because
they are a danger to public health, not to waste your taxes!

When was the last time our councils ever paid for anything that
benefits the residents!

I suspect somewhere along the line road builders and pest control are
paying out huge backhander's in order to fleece the gullible.

Rats are no more or less dirty than most other wildlife, and much less
than things that grow in our soils. You seem to have snipped the bit
about the law and infestations, I'm sure an error on your part but
worth mentioning we are talking about neither in most cases here.

I don't favour the poisoning method they use, I prefer the "gone in a
second" method of the terriers.

You logic is flawed. If the rats are so dangerous and dirty why would
we let our dogs risk catching what we don't want to catch? Apart from
it's terribly cruel especially against an animal that did nothing
wrong.

I think we may have to agree to disagree on this one.