Millions of Acres Threatened by Plague of Rats
Pastor Dale Morgan
Millions of Acres Threatened by Plague of Rats*
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 15, 2007; 5:51 AM
BEIJING -- Officials blame a warm winter for a boom in the rat
population in part of western China, state media reported Tuesday.
Xinhua News Agency said the plague of rats were threatening an estimated
5 million acres of pastureland in Altay, about 20 percent of the total
in northern Xinjiang.
The average temperature in Xinjiang during the past winter was 3.6 to
7.2 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal, and snow in the remote
mountains in Altay shrank by at least one foot, Xinhua said.
A report this month from a United Nations network of climate change
experts said the world has about eight years to keep global temperatures
from spiking to disastrous levels.
The risks of global climate change include rising sea-levels, droughts,
famine, floods, the spread of disease, loss of species, increased
conflict, and more extreme weather.