UNICEF: Feeding children during "rat flood" in Bangladesh
Like 2 Dislike 0 Published on 28 Aug 2008
BELAICHARI, Bangladesh, 26 August 2008 -- UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) are distributing food relief in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of south-eastern Bangladesh, where a plague of rats is devastating crops and triggering a food crisis.
"It is the time of the rat flood," says Purno Chandra Chakma, a farmer in remote Belaichari. "They've come out of the jungle and are everywhere."
The explosion of the rodent population is due to the cyclical flowering of giant bamboo, which occurs roughly every 50 years. Rats feed on the fruits, and are able to breed and multiply much faster than normal because of the surplus food.
The current flowering began in 2007. The last time the region experienced this bizarre phenomenon was in 1959.
To read the full story, visit: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/bangladesh_45358.html