| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Two Billion Chinese Mice Overrun Lake Area |
| 2007-07-09 |
| BEIJING -- People living in communities surrounding a large shallow lake have been overrun by field mice after floodwaters drove the rodents out of islands on the lake, state media reported Monday. The mouse invasion began on June 23 when the Yangtze River flooded, raising the water level in central China's Dongting Lake and submerging mouse holes on lake islands, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Now, an estimated 2 billion mice are ravaging crops in 22 counties around the lake, and authorities were rushing to construct walls and ditches to keep the rodents out. Residents have killed more than 2.3 million field mice -- or 90 tons of the rodents, Xinhua said. In Hunan province's Yiyang County, a ditch along the lakeshore was filled with mice. Residents were using clubs and shovels to beat them to death, while others scooped the furry animals out using fishing nets. Mice have already damaged dikes and ruined crops in areas where authorities were slow to build walls and ditches, Xinhua said. The rodent problem was expected to worsen as more floods were forecast for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #14 *grooaaaaan* Go to your room, DB. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-07-09 22:04 |
| #13 They need some WMD's. Weapons of Mouse Destruction. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-07-09 20:44 |
| #12 If any of you girls need a big strong man to hug you during this crisis, I'm available. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-07-09 18:33 |
| #11 How do they know the mice are Chinese? |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-07-09 18:25 |
| #10 Mouse flambeaux. Nutritious, tasty rodent. NuTaR bar is in your future. |
| Posted by: zazz 2007-07-09 16:43 |
| #9 mmmm.... Fried Mice. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-07-09 16:10 |
| #8 Let them eat |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-09 15:57 |
| #7 Must be time for the Hajj. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-07-09 14:49 |
| #6 Time for China to import cats They would just eat them. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-07-09 12:44 |
| #5 Time for China to import cats |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-07-09 12:40 |
| #4 Note to self: Don't buy any foodstuff made in China which lists chicken as an ingredient. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-07-09 12:13 |
| #3 Note to chinese : if you hire a certain pied piper of unknown and mysterious background, make sure you pay him as agreed, your one-child policy would mix badly with his reaction, should you not abide to the contract. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-07-09 12:05 |
| #2 :: shudder :: |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-07-09 11:38 |
| #1 Reminds of the tale of the Bishop of Bingen, and his mouse tower on the Rhine. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-09 10:58 |