Vermin

For other uses, seeVermin (disambiguation).

"Varmint" redirects here. For the episode ofAdventure Time,seeAdventure Time (season 7).For the album byAnna Meredith,seeVarmints (album).

A wild rabbit – considered apestby many, due to its destruction of farm crops

Vermin(colloquiallyvarmint(s)orvarmit(s)) arepestsornuisance animalsthatspread diseasesand destroycrops,livestock,andproperty.Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterprise.

The term derives from theLatinvermis(worm), and was originally used for the worm-likelarvaeof certaininsects,many of which infest foodstuffs.The termvarmint(andvermint) has been found in sources from c. 1530–1540s.

Definition

The term "vermin" is used to refer to a wide scope of organisms, includingrodents(such asrats),cockroaches,termites,bed bugs,stoats,sables.

Historically, in the 16th and 17th century, the expression also became used as aderogatory termassociated with groups of persons typically plagued by vermin, namelybeggarsandvagabonds,and more generallythe poor.

Disease-carryingrodentsandinsectsare the usual case, but the term is also applied to larger animals—especially smallpredators—typically because they consumeresourceswhich humans consider theirs, such aslivestockand crops. Birds which eat cereal crops and fruit are an example. TheAmerican crow(Corvus brachyrhynchos), is widely hated by farmers because of crop depredation.Pigeons,which have been widely introduced in urban environments, are also sometimes considered vermin. Some varieties ofsnakesandarachnidsmay also be referred to as vermin. "Vermin" is also used by some people as a term of abuse, either individually or collectively.

Varmint

Varmintorvarmitis anAmerican-Englishcolloquialism,a corruption of "vermin" particularly common to theAmerican East and South-eastwithin the nearby bordering states of the vastAppalachiaregion. The term describes species which raid farms from without, as opposed to vermin (such as rats) that infest from within, thus referring mainly to predators such asferal dogs,foxes,weasels,andcoyotes,sometimes evenwolvesor rarelybears,but also, to a lesser degree, herbivores and burrowing animals that directly damage crops and land.

Although "varmint/varmit" is not the prevalent usage inStandard Written English,it is a common descriptor for certain kinds of weapons andpest controlsituations in the Appalachian and nearby states and the American West and South-west which have adopted terms such asvarmint rifleandvarmint hunting.

Deterioration of balance

Any species can develop into vermin if introduced into a region where there are favorable living conditions and few natural predators. In such cases, they are seen as an invasive species and humans often choose to fill the role of thepredatorto limit the danger to the environment. Examples of vermin includegoatson theGalápagos Islands,rabbits in AustraliaorcatsonPrince Edward Islands.Rats,mice,andcockroachesare common urban and suburban vermin.

United Kingdom

Under Tudor "vermin laws", many creatures were seen as competitors for the produce of the countryside and bounties were paid by the parish for their carcasses. The declaration of thered kiteas vermin led to its decline to the point of extirpation in the UK by the 20th century. However, the red kite has since been reintroduced to much of Scotland and the majority of England and Wales by the trans-location of breeding pairs from other parts of Europe.

See also

• Parasite
• Pest
• Weed

External links

• The dictionary definition ofverminat Wiktionary
• The New Brunswick Ministry of Natural Resources