Copy
I have the Boomtown Rats song in my head now.
View this email in your browser

After a Hot Summer, the Rodents Are Coming in for Winter

I write this as we have insulation pumped into our old villa's timber walls. I wonder what the rats and mice think of this. Apparently, New Zealand is having a rodent explosion and many of them seem to be at our house.
 

These cartoons are from way back, but still some of my favourite Arctic Circle strips about household pests.

 

There is a government-backed committment to make New Zealand predator free by 2050 and Kiwis are being encouraged to trap and kill predators in their own backyard. The focus is on rats, possums and stoats, but they would also like to see the back of hedgehogs. I have to admit I couldn't bear to kill the two hedgehogs we found in the sump last summer. Hedgehogs are dying out in the UK but it seems they are thriving here.

We have however been trapping rats. We have 12 traps in the attic that Duncan checks on a regular basis and there are now 6 dead rats buried in the garden. Until recently I had three trap tunnels baited with peanut butter and set up around the house to catch rats. These didn't catch any rats, only sweet little field mice (which are also an invasive species).
Although I didn't like it, I continued trapping these poor mice until one of the traps caught and killed a sparrow. Another "exotic" species, but that was a the last straw for me and I've stopped using those traps for now. As a form of penance I built a bird table and have been enjoying seeing the birds flock around it. No sparrows yet, but a lot of silver eyes (which are a native species).





I finished drawing most of the illustrations for FAB Club 2, but I still have a crazy amount of work to do, so I better get back to the drawing board.

Ta ta for now

 


PS. You know someone else might like this newsletter; please forward it to them.

Copyright © 2018 Alex Hallatt's Cartoons and Writing, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp