Prairie dog plague threatens Chinese grasslands
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Prairie dog plague threatens Chinese grasslands*
01 Jun 2007 09:23:30 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - A plague of prairie dogs is threatening more
than 70,000 sq km (27,000 sq miles) of grasslands in northern China,
Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
The government of the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia planned to clear
the burrowing rodents from 1,300 sq km of land this year and had already
spent 2 million yuan ($261,500) on the problem, the report added.
"Although the area affected by the plague has fallen, it is still a
serious problem," it said.
China is trying to combat severe desertification in Inner Mongolia,
caused by years of drought and over-farming and the reason for
sandstorms whose effects can be felt as far away as Japan.
China's far western region of Xinjiang meanwhile is dealing with
marauding rats, whose population has exploded due to an unseasonably
warm winter, state media said last month. ($1=7.647 Yuan)