[ossig] Pythons put squeeze on rampant Java rats

[Mukhsein Johari <pythonium@yahoo.com>]

Hahaha! Sorry, couldn't resist...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1072265,00.html
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Tuesday October 28, 2003
The Guardian

Fed up with traditional methods that have failed to
contain a plague of rats wreaking havoc in local rice
fields, an Indonesian city is to take on the pests
with the most dangerous predator of all: mother
nature.

Three hundred two-metre pythons and five pairs of owls
will be released into fields in Sleman regency,
central Java, next week, according to government
officials in Yogyakarta.

"The rats are causing such problems we don't know what
else to do," said Ahmad Yulianto, of the local
agriculture and forestry office.

"There are hundreds of thousands of them destroying
rice fields in Sleman. The next harvest will be well
down on usual. This is our way to restore the balance
of nature so we can all live in harmony."

The scheme follows a pilot project last year initiated
by the local governor and one of Indonesia's last
active royal sultans, Hamengkubuwono X. "He ordered
the release of 59 snakes and they proved successful,"
Mr Yulianto said. "As the problem is worse this year,
we've decided to significantly increase the number of
snakes released."

Officials hope there will be such a feast for the
snakes and owls that they will stay in the infested
neighbourhoods until the food supply dries up.

Officials in Yogyakarta, home to Borobudur, one of the
world's largest Buddhist monuments, refused to say
where they got the snakes, merely saying they are
"from across Java".

"Socialisation" programmes have been run in the
affected areas, Mr Yulianto said, to prepare residents
for the pythons.

"They are not poisonous, so even people who do not
like snakes have nothing to fear," he said.

"In fact, the snakes look rather attractive so our
biggest concern is that people will hunt them for
their meat and skin. I hope that won't happen until
after the rats have been dealt with."



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