Sunday, November 22, 2020

IN the NEWS - Invasion of the Rats & Chicken Wolves

 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 Timothy 3:1
 
"Rat school is in session as fed-up New Yorkers try to learn how to deal with a surging rodent population.
Rats as big as bunnies are roaming the streets in broad daylight, nesting in trees and chewing through car engine wires that can cost thousands to fix.
Dozens who belong to Upper West Siders for Safer Streets have posted their gargantuan vermin sightings on Facebook, including Melanie Sloan, whose daughter is Scarlett Johansson.
Not a day goes by that Amanda Levine doesn’t see at least one rat. She sprays her Jeep Grand Cherokee with a cocktail of cinnamon and mint oils and water — under the hood and on all four wheel bearings — to ward off the critters. In her apartment complex, at 107th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway, her neighbors tell her they hear scratching behind the walls. 
Levine ticks off four reasons why she thinks rats have invaded the UWS: outdoor dining, more homeless New Yorkers, shoddy street cleaning and the biggest — trash not being picked up often enough, both from the cans on sidewalk corners and the stacks of bags hauled to the curb by building supers.
As far as Levine is concerned, the only one to blame is Mayor de Blasio. Not in the 20 years she has lived on the block have rats been so thick.
A species of large ravenous reptiles are popping up in large numbers in the southeastern US...The Argentine black and white tegu can grow up to 4 feet long and is distinguished by its
spotted scales. Scientists say it is a voracious omnivore that eats everything in sight, posing a threat to farmers and native species in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.
There have been other isolated sightings across the Deep South, leaving biologists to conclude the creatures have been breeding far beyond the Everglades.
 In Venezuela, the Argentine tegu is known for sneaking into chicken coops to steal eggs, earning them the nickname el lobo pollero, or “the chicken wolf.”
 Tegus are not aggressive toward humans, but are known to defend themselves with sharp teeth and strong jaws if threatened, according to the Georgia Wildlife Department."
NYP