Animals: St. Louis Mongooses

In St. Louis two lawyers have put their skill at the disposal of two rodents—a common or Egyptian mongoose and a slightly larger water mongoose. The lawyers are Cleveland Alexander Newton, one-time (1919-27) Missouri Congressman, and Thomas Cobbs. What aroused them was the fact that the two mongooses, which resembled large nervous rats in their cages at the St. Louis Zoo, had been condemned to death by the U. S. Government. Reason: The Government forbids the importation of mongooses. Although they are valuable in India and Africa as snake destroyers, in the comparatively snakeless U. S. they would, if allowed to multiply, quickly menace poultry and game.*

Lawyers Newton and Cobbs claimed the Government’s case was weak because: 1) the Government could not prove that the mongooses had been imported. They were bought two years ago for $40 each from a reputable animal dealer; 2) both were males, which eliminated any chance of multiplication. While Zoo officials obtained a stay of execution and the lawyers sought the right to defend the condemned, St. Louisans flocked to see a mongoose. Fed on horse, goat and cow meat by Zoo-man George P. Vierheller, the two martyrs grew fat.

Known to the western world chiefly through Rudyard Kipling’s story “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” Herpestes griseus (or mungo) is a dingy grey-brown rodent about 30 inches long including a pointed tail. When excited, its long stiff hairs stand erect. This bristling hair, together with thick skin, is one of the mongoose’s protections against the fangs of serpents. Contrary to hearsay, the mongoose is not immune to snakebite except by dint of its intuitive agility. With uncanny timing it dodges thrust after thrust of the serpent, gradually exhausts its enemy, then darts in, bites the nape of the snake’s neck, triumphantly hauls away the corpse.*

Legends that the mongoose crossbreeds with rats, that it can hypnotize a snake with its glassy stare (or vice versa), are groundless.But because mongooses eat rats, mice and large insects,in addition to snakes and birds and their eggs, they have been found useful. Indian natives keep them as protective house pets.

*In the Bronx (N. Y.) Zoo is a mongoose which stays on sufferance as a “temporary” Government exhibit.

*A remarkable film sequence showing a mongoose’s victory over a cobra is ‘included in the cinema The Letter (TIME, March 18).