Ten rats flushed out in a quarter of an hour. What amaze the gallery for a ferrette from the Gers, temporary from one day to
Toulouse town hall. The scene took place last Wednesday, discreetly, on the banks of the Brienne canal.
Françoise Ampoulage, city councilor in charge of animals in the city wanted to test with her services “an alternative method to chemicals” to eliminate rat colonies. “The technique is not new, it was already used in the 15th and 16th centuries on boats to hunt rats and mice,” said the elected.
TO@Toulousewe wish to return to traditional methods to reduce rat poison #ecology. It was at the edge of the canal that this rat control experiment took place. A success@ 30millionsdamis @FBB_Officiel pic.twitter.com/aK1eSWkAjI
– Françoise Ampoulange (@ampoulange) September 29, 2021
But on the solid ground of the Pink City, it was a first. The place to be rat exterminated was chosen “because it is steep” and it is difficult to set traps there. It was first surrounded by an ephemeral fence, in order to avoid untimely escapes. “Then we introduced the ferret into the gallery and placed nets at the other exits,” says Françoise Ampoulage. A “biological weapon” not really bloodthirsty, since the simple smell of the ferret, which never leaves an area without having explored all the tunnels, scares the rats away. The victims of the day were locked in black boxes “to avoid stress” and then gently euthanized by the introduction of carbon dioxide.
Waiting for a falconer
The Gers service provider, one of only two in France to use this technique, had brought three other tame mustelids as reinforcements. But they remained calm in their cage, the Girl Scout did all the work. Complete rat control – even dislodging cushy rats that never come out and are fed by their congeners – and lasting, since by leaving its scent, it also durably prevented the colony from re-establishing itself.
“Considering what she did in a quarter of an hour, you can imagine the performance over a day,” enthuses the city councilor. Admittedly this type of operation costs at least 1,500 euros per day, “but a rat trap already costs 800”, notes Françoise Ampoulange. Convinced by the test, she is ready to repeat the experience “in a flat place, probably in a square”.
Moreover, the use of the ferret is not the only ancestral idea in the pipes “to reintroduce as much as possible of the natural in the hunt for pests”. The town hall contacted a falconer. He could land soon with two of his buzzards to disperse the large gatherings of starlings. It is much more bucolic than the scare shots that startle the residents.