Decimate is OK. That's only 10%.

Rat poison?
Call the experts:

I prefer helvetica drops of rat poison.

0Icky0: Decimate is OK. That's only 10%.

I wish I only had 10% of my mate too. The portion that makes a sammich and the portion that gives a beej.

/Decimate.
//What's in your wallet?

BenKenobi: I prefer helvetica drops of rat poison.

Helvetica or Helvetica Neue?

BenKenobi: I prefer helvetica drops of rat poison.

Beat me to it. I was going to go with Comic Sans.

Stick insects?

All you need is a barn in central Texas. Should be full of them come September.

stick insects need lovin' too!

"Would you harbor my stick insect ?"

/obscure?

Arial drop of rat poison? I don't know about that, it seems like Helvetica would work better.

"Arial drop"??

Well, I was wrong; the lizards are a godsend.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death

In other words Australia is stupid.

Shiat, what are they living in the 1950's over there? Yeah we know what we are doing, just dump a bunch of poison all over the place.

I suggest Chinese needle snakes.

I read that as Australian government proposes anal drop of rat poison...

Crikey!

errr... RTFA... the situation is a bit more complex than the headline suggests. It's not news it's FARKing misleading headlines (in arial).

Wow, what an dimwitted article. The plan is to drop poisoned bait, as in stuff that'll get eaten in order to poison, on land. And the opposition party thinks that seabirds, which eat stuff at sea, are going to be threatened by by this. It's like poisoning carrot sticks at a computer fair, you aren't going to kill any geeks that way. You have to go for the Cheetos.

/the woodhen is a more likely problem, but seeing as how the Lord Howe Island Board and the National Parks and Wildlife Service have spend decades saving its arse I'm fairly sure they've taken that into account.
//oh, yeah, I'm a biologist... getting a kick... yadda yadda....

Don't fark with the land lobster

Visited Lord Howe Island as a kid on a family holiday, wonderful place. This was back in the days of the flying boats too.

Climbed that small mountain in the background where these insects were found.

Shame to hear rats have gone wild there.

It is a small place tho, and very isolated. Can't they continue the plan of the locals killing all the rats?

Verdana.

Is this a "my favorite font" thread?

/It is now

The insect they're trying to save:




According to wikipedia, the island is only 22 sq. mi. How hard would it be to get a bunch of drunk Australians out there to kill the rats? I know if I was a drunk Australian and offered the chance, I'd take it.

you know who else liked to decimate species in Australia?

/ surprised no one has done this yet
// what, the Austria/Australia thing can't be reversed?

phlegmmo: I read that as Australian government proposes anal drop of rat poison...

Phew!! So I'm not the only one!!!

sombreradoraloca: Verdana.

Is this a "my favorite font" thread?

/It is now

Palitino Linotype.

/save the stick insects and what not...

News: poison also likely to decimate several endangered species living on the island.

TFA: AERIAL rat-poison bombing of Lord Howe Island could endanger humans and kill a rare woodhen, the NSW Opposition says.

It's the first line of the article, subby. C'mon! Read!

Still, aerial dropping of rat poison is a pretty stupid.

in order to create an ideal environment for stick insects

supermodels?

phlegmmo: I read that as Australian government proposes anal drop of rat poison...

me too

Better idea. Instead of killing the rats with poison, just get a giant herd of cats to kill all the rats on that island. Enjoy the rest of Caturday everyone.

Funk Brothers: Better idea. Instead of killing the rats with poison, just get a giant herd of cats to kill all the rats on that island. Enjoy the rest of Caturday everyone.

And how to get rid of the cats? Easy. Run a can-opener on the mainland.

Sounds like a microcosm of the Obama campaign.

I've been to the island 14 times... it's one huge block of World Heritage Listed real estate. Lord Howe Island is without doubt the most amazing and beautiful South Pacific island I have ever visited. The best aspect of the island is that it is undeveloped and looks exactly as it did decades ago.

Highly Recommended to all.

When one of the old ships ran aground at the turn of the last century, hundreds of rats swam to shore and immediately decimated the wildlife there. I've seen them eat the palm seeds, kill the native (and endangered) green winged pigeons, eat the eggs of geckos & birds and even attack both adults and hatchlings. The rats have killed off virtually every animal species exclusive to the island.

FARK THE RATS!

Australians have a unique and storied history with introduced species. Find one and ask if he likes your pet bunny. It's fun!

Lord Howe Island is paradise. No Americans there.

I for one welcome our new giant stick insect overlords...

What an idiotic article. I'm surprised some ninconpoop didn't think of erecting an enormous rat-proof fence to combat the problem.

Oh, Australia? Never mind.

Hollie Maea: Australians have a unique and storied history with introduced species. Find one and ask if he likes your pet bunny. It's fun!

You beat me. tinypic sucks when you need to downscale a stolen image.

:(

Hey, Submitter! It's "aerial", you moran.

AERIAL

sox406, yer scarin' me with that pic, dude!

Is that PS magic or just your everyday transgenic pig? The face looks positively human.

Several species of small furry rats gathered together in a cave a grooving with a ....... keyboard?

StoneColdAtheist

Is that PS magic or just your everyday transgenic pig? The face looks positively human.

I'm not quite sure, I just ran across it while looking for endangered species. I'm guessing its from Alabama though. I would say West Virgina, but apparently they just keep it in the family there instead of taking it to the barn.

StoneColdAtheist: sox406, yer scarin' me with that pic, dude!

Is that PS magic or just your everyday transgenic pig? The face looks positively human.

I think it's one of Baldwyn brothers. You know, the once cool one in Usual Suspects, who leapt into the closet when he learned he was Evangelical.

Stick Lobster!

Whatthefark: How hard would it be to get a bunch of drunk Australians out there to kill the rats?

Because they live in deep holes.

And so do the rats.

This is what the island looks like to the eye. This picture was taken without a circular polarizer... the Lagoon is actually that color!


The Australian Government once put a bounty for the tail of every rat on the island. I've seen the old "Movietone" Archival footage from the 1930s showing piles of rat tails being burned (to prevent their re-use as currency) in piles that were 8 feet high. Those were just the tails!

I think they charged a shilling per tail back then (or somesuch).

In 1927, a tally of 13,771 rat tails was counted on Lord Howe Island after the rats were hunted following a single shipwreck in 1918.

Amusingly, the scientific name for the ship rat which has infested the island is "Ratus Ratus". LOL!

The native Woodhen which was decimated down to just 20 breeding pairs in 1983 can kill rats and even defend itself from them.


Here's some interesting (and amusing reading):
Local historian, Ron Matthews, has some tales to tell about rats.

Ron Matthews: The rats got to such a problem; they were eating snails and lizards and killing off birds. And the main thing they were eating the palm seeds, and that was a major industry in those days. So they introduced a bounty on rats, 6d a tail, which is probably $5 in today's money. And it was obviously a very good incentive, because the people were going out and catching rats at a rate of 20,000 per annum. Well that was the number of rat tails that were cashed in. The rat tail, was a proof of kill and the bodies were given to the dogs who'd sniffed the rats out.

Now the women were cashing in, so I'm told, more rat tails than the fellows. And the fellows thought, 'Gee, the girls appear to be better ratters than us.' But a few people have suggested to me that the women were very enterprising, and as rat tails were a form of currency, some of the women were breeding rats. So in a sense, printing their own money. So breeding these rats, they could just sort of feed the dog of a morning with a carcase and take a few rat tails down to the shopping center and do a bit of purchasing. Many an islander told me they'd settle debts with rat tails, and one of the early history books mentions rat tails on the church collection plate.

sox406:

Seth Green?

nero_design: the Lagoon is actually that color!

One of best childhood memories was landing in that lagoon in the flying boat, watching the window bob below the water, sea-spray flying everywhere.

Then next-day going deep-sea fishing and catching tuna almost as large as I was.

Going snorkeling at Ned's Beach and feeding the wild dolphins...

so many fantastic memories, I really need to make up a reason to re-visit that place.