« Perito Moreno Glacier | Main | My New Doormat »
March 25, 2009
China fights gerbil plague with 'the pill'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090325/od_afp/chinaanimalsgerbilsoffbeat_20090325123041
"Authorities in northwestern China have resorted to using a contraception-abortion pill to rein in a plague of gerbils which is threatening the local desert ecosystem, state media said Wednesday.
Forestry officials in the city of Changji in the vast Xinjiang region began distributing the pellets last May to curb the exploding gerbil population, Xinhua news agency said.
The gerbils' large burrow systems in the Gurbantunggut Desert had begun to damage the root systems of the few plants that can survive in the area, while also damaging local agriculture, it said."
Posted by Rob Kiser on March 25, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Comments