Vermin

A wild rabbit - considered a pest to many farmers

Mouse

Vermin (or varmint or varmit) is a term applied to various animal species regarded as pests or nuisances and especially to those associated with the carrying of disease. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included will vary from area to area and person to person. The term derives from the Latin vermis (worm), and was originally used for the worm-like larvae of certain insects, many of which infest foodstuffs. The term 'varmint' (and 'vermint') has been found in sources from ca. 1530-1540s.

Spelling distinction

Varmint or varmit is an American-English colloquialism, particularly common to the American east and South-east within the nearby bordering states of the vast Appalachia region. The term describes farm pests which raid farms as opposed to infest farms—mainly predators such as foxes, weasels, and coyotes, sometimes even wolves or rarely, bears, but also, to a lesser degree, herbivores and burrowing animals that directly damage crops and land.

Although this version of the word "vermin" is not a prevalent term in Standard Written English, it is a common descriptor for certain kinds of weapons and pest control situations in the Appalachian and nearby states and the American west and south-west which have adopted terms such as varmint rifle and varmint hunting.

Scope of meanings

Disease-carrying rodents and insects are the usual case, but the term is also applied to larger animals—especially small predators—typically because they consume resources which humans consider theirs, such as killing livestock and feeding on crops. Birds which eat cereal crops and fruit are an example. Pigeons, which have been widely introduced in urban environments, are sometimes considered vermin. Some varieties of snake may also be referred to as vermin.

The term is also used as an extremely pejorative characterization of a particular class or group of people as inferior and subhuman, and often considered social parasites. Application of the term can be wide, having been applied over the centuries in different languages, to various groups, and its use is usually based on a perception that the target group's views are "disease-like," or that such groups exist out of sociological balance with the common society.

Deterioration of balance

Species can develop into vermin if introduced into regions where they find favourable living conditions, and if they face few or no natural enemies there. In such cases, humans often choose to fill the role of the predator to limit the danger to the environment. A prime example of vermin is goats on the Galápagos Islands. Rats, mice, and cockroaches are common urban and suburban vermin. Cats, introduced to countries such as Australia, have killed more indigenous wildlife than any other introduced animal, to the extent that they have been implicated in the extinction of many small mammals and amphibians^{[citation needed]}.

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 the Red Kite as vermin led to its decline to the point of extinction in the UK by the 20th century. However, the Red Kite is being reintroduced by the trans-location of breeding pairs from Europe.