The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

8 The Health Bulletin May, 1951animals should be stored in ratproofbiilldings or containers.3. Scraps of food should not be lefton the table, sink, drainboard, flooror any other place.4. Garbage should be kept in metalcontainers at all times. Neverthrow it out on the ground.5. The garbage can lid should be tightfitting and kept on at all timesexcept when its removal is necessaryin order to deposit garbage,clean the can or remove garbage.6. Cafes and other cormnercial establishmentswhich produce organicwastes should store garbage cansin rat-proof, fly-proof garbage containerhouses.7. Garbage should be collected atleast twice a week.8. Garbage should be disposed of bysanitary land fills or incineration.Never use an open dump.Harborage Is almost as essential asfood to rats. For this reason, collectionsof trash should not be allowed in dwellings,business establishments, backyards, alleys, vacant lots or any otherplaces.Prom the foregoing, it can be seenthat If food and harborage are notmade available to rats, there will be norats. Even though much progress is beingmade in that direction, the time isnot In sight when we will cease to feedand provide homes for them. ManyNorth Carolina towns have stringentlaws regarding the storage and collectionof garbage, the ratproofing ofbuildings and keeping premises free ofrat harborage. Some have providedsanitary land fills and modern incinerators.Through education programsand clean-up campaigns, conducted bylocal health departments, much hasbeen done to teach the housewife aswell as owners of bvisiness establishmentsthe importance of not feedingand housing rats. Yet, a peep into thealleys and back yards of almost anytown will disclose piles of valuelesstrash, waste foodstuffs on the groimd,uncovered garbage cans, open ventsthrough which rats can enter and leaveat will, and other conditions highlyfavorable to the happiness and wellbeingof rats. A stroll around the averagegarbage dmnp reveals a conglomeratecollection of the discards of moderncivilization, in all stages of disarray,destruction and putrefaction,providing a rat Utopia. A herd of hogsis sometimes observed feeding on topand around the edges but leaving allthe food needed by the rats. The porkfrom such hogs is almost always infectedwith Trichinella aspiralis, theorganism which causes trichinosis. Thehogs become infected from eating scrapsof vmcooked pork or dead rats.Killing RatsUntil we stop raising rats, it will benecessary to employ means for killingthem In order to keep their numbersdown to the bearable limit. This canbe done by violent means, such asshooting or clubbing, which, thoughconsidered good sport by some. Is notvery effective in reducing the population.Predators, such as cats, dogs andferrets, do very little good. Rats can beeffectively destroyed in their burrowsby several means, the most commonmethod being that of pimiping cyanidegas into the burrow. By attaching ahose to the exhaust pipe of a car andsticking the other end into the burrow,rats can be killed with carbon monoxidegas. Water forced into the burrow vmderpressure with a garden hose will drownrats. Several types of traps are on themarket which are widely used in ratreduction, ranging from the simple snaptrap to highly complicated, electricallyoperated traps.Poisoned bait or water is the mostwidely used means for killing rats. Anumber of poisons used for this purposeare available, but most of themare so highly toxic to human beings anddomestic animals that their use byother than highly trained experts isnot recommended. Red Squill, the safestof all rat poisons, has been in generaluse for years. Until recently it was theonly such poison recommended by theN. C. State Board of Health for publicuse. This material has been very satisfactoryin bringing about temporary re-