2 billion flood-displaced rats

China is trying to deal with 2 billion flood-displaced rats in Yueyang which have destroyed 1.6 million ha (6,200 sq miles) of crops.

Experts blame the plague partly on the shortage of owls and snakes, both popular in traditional Chinese medicine, with snake a favourite winter dish in the south.
“A snake can eat as many as 400 rats a year and an owl 1,500,” the China Daily said. “Snakes in the region have been caught and exported to Guangdong in recent years and have ended up on the dining table. It has become a lucrative business and depleted the number of snakes…
“Owls have suffered the same fate.”

Yueyang’s flood season is notoriously deadly. At least 360 people have died in floods and related disasters across the region this summer and more than 4 million ha (15,440 sq miles) of crops had been destroyed.

This is happening while the region is coming off the worst drought it’s experienced in over 50 years.

Please pray for the people of Yueyang as they deal with the challenges of natural disasters, poverty, and radical social changes.