‘Endangered’ Pests

As a child born and raised in Hollywood, one of the rites of fall, along with getting new shoes for school, was to call the “Rat Man,” which is what he called himself.

Our street was lined with large palm trees, and colonies of kangaroo rats lived in them. When fall came and the weather cooled, they all came into our house and those of our neighbors. Hence, the necessity for a visit from the cheerful “Rat Man” to rid the neighborhood of these filthy, disease-carrying pests. We all got to know him well.

So you can understand my disbelief--my disgust--at seeing in the paper that these pests had become an “endangered species” and so had to be protected and preserved. Can fleas, cockroaches or termites be far behind?

It is such idiocy that will make the whole environmental movement look foolish and thwart perfectly logical and necessary actions with which no right-thinking person can disagree.

BARBARA MCCARTHY

Capistrano Beach