Killers of snakes

Killers of snakes face hard labor

JAKARTA (JP): The chief of Sukajadi village in Tasikmalaya regency, West Java, is threatening to punish anyone who kills snakes in the area to 10 days of hard labor in a bid to protect rice fields from rat attacks.

He said he has resorted to this threat because the rampant killing of snakes, the natural predators of rats, has caused the rat population to become larger and larger, the Kompas daily reported yesterday.

Memed Sumarya, the village head, said that due to the falling number of snakes the rat population has jumped uncontrollably, destroying large areas of rice fields.

About half of the 140 hectares of rice fields in the village have been devastated by rat attacks over the last three rice planting seasons, resulting in much reduced levels of rice production, Memed said.

"We have actually tried various methods to fight against rats. We have resorted to poison, manual killing and fumigation but nothing was able to stop the rat attacks," he said.

Local people also used to breed owls as another rat-control technique, he said. This proved to be ineffective because the large number of rats frightened the owls and drove them away.

"The last choice falls on snakes which through their protection are expected to naturally help cut the rat population," Memed said. (hhr)