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As long as there have been humans there have been what we consider to be pests. Critters that either invade our space or try to live on our food scraps have been a problem since the dawn of mankind. We have looked for ways to attack the pest problem since our earliest days on Earth.
In ancient Egypt crocodiles were a celebrated species. People looked upon these animals with respect. Archaeologists have even found mummified crocodiles in tombs. So, when that civilization had a problem with rodents running the streets of their cities, they let’s the crocs out.
Although the results of using crocodiles as a pest control measure had mixed results, the fact of the matter is that it was tried. Crocs would snap up rats and birds that the Egyptians considered to be a nuisance. I am sure that some humans were snapped up by the crocs as well, making them not the ideal choice for pest control.
Cats were thought to be somehow tied to witchcraft by many people of that era. As a result many cats were eradicated. This turned out to be a huge mistake as it allowed rats infected with the Black Plague to flourish. The Plague wiped out a very large chunk of the population as a result.
Luckily, some monks bred cats in secret and released them in the surrounding areas to help control the rat issue. Who knows how many lives this saved.
Gardeners of this era bred and released hedgehogs to eat slugs and snails which were eating their crops. The plan worked and everyone thought this was a genius solution, at least for a while. The problem then became that the hedgehogs were too good at their job and started feasting on other insects, like honeybees. Not only did this stymie honey production but natural pollination was reduced drastically. The end result was that the solution was worse than the original problem. Eventually they had to reduce the number of hedgehogs because they became the pests causing the most trouble.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip down pest control’s past. Stay tuned for more blogs like this one as there are a ton more stories featuring both successful and unsuccessful pest control solutions from years gone by.
