Yogyakarta pits snakes against rats

Yogyakarta pits snakes against rats

INDONESIA: The ancient city of Yogyakarta plans to release 300 snakes into surrounding sub-districts to rid rice fields there of rats, news reports said on Saturday.

The back-to-nature approach to the area's rodent problem was the brainchild of Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.

He experimented with the snake solution last year and plans to put it into practice next month, said the state-run Antara news agency.

Yulianto, a spokesman for the agriculture and forest office in Yogyakarta, Central Java, 450 kilometers southeast of Jakarta, said the city would also release five pairs of owls to attack the rats.

"We have informed the people in the three subdistricts not to kill the snakes or owls," said Yulianto.

-- DPA