I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood that cats never were a major predator of rats - they prefer small rodents and birds, which don't fight back. Rats are pretty fierce when cornered and cats will only go for them if there is no alternative food, such as on a ship for example. Tony 9967 On 28/02/2008, Brad Rogers <brad@fineby.me.uk> wrote: > > On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:31:50 +1100 > Warwick and Eleanor Dilley <dilleywe@bigpond.net.au> wrote: > > Hello Warwick, > > > I understand that it was from the bite of fleas which came from rats. > > At the time though, it was thought that cats were the problem. They > (cats) were slaughtered to try and reduce the plague. The irony > being, of course, that they were killing off one of the things that > could reduce the rat population. > > -- > Regards _ > / ) "The blindingly obvious is > / _)rad never immediately apparent" > > We don't need no-one to tell us what's right or wrong > The Modern World - The Jam > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SFHG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >