Us I suspect many people, especially city dwellers, had a good laugh when they read in our Sunday edition about a young man who decided to turn a baby mongoose into a cute pet.

We can be sure that most deep rural Jamaicans were not laughing. They were mostly disgusted and horrified.

As our story, written by executive editor Vernon Davidson, noted, the mongoose is an extremely dangerous invasive species that has wreaked economic and environmental havoc.

The idea behind importing the animal from distant places in the 19th century was to control rats, as well as the feared (although mostly harmless) Jamaican snake and various nuisance life forms found on local sugar cane plantations.

Soon everyone realized that a terrible mistake had been made. Within a few years, the cunning, highly adaptable and fast-breeding mongoose (with no natural predator) had taken over the entire island.

Small farmers and other homeowners who raised free-range chickens, often called common birds, felt the harsh economic crisis when mongooses began to take a liking to the newly hatched and growing birds.

Some older Jamaicans may remember decades ago when brave farmers trained their dogs to hunt and kill mongooses as a way to control population growth. That’s a practice we suspect has faded.

The damage caused by the mongoose to indigenous wildlife is catastrophic.

We doubt that even the most dedicated naturalists can even come close to accurately calculating its extent.

Scientists say at least two species of birds that lay their eggs in grass have apparently disappeared largely because of the mongoose.

The Jamaican iguana, widespread centuries ago and long thought to be extinct, was saved by scientists who, based on information from wild pig hunters, found a dwindling colony in the Hellshire Hills, south of St. Catherine, in the 1990s.

Scientists have worked to keep the iguana afloat in the wild by routinely trapping and killing mongooses.

The aforementioned Jamaican snake species have largely disappeared. Once again, the angry mongoose is largely to blame.

The Jamaican coney, a small rabbit-sized, rat-like mammal that historians say was abundant in Jamaica’s wilds centuries ago, is on the brink of extinction. Once again, the mongoose takes the most blame.

The Jamaican giant wasp, a species of lizard, may have been wiped out by the mongoose, naturalists say.

And anecdotal evidence suggests that other lizard species, including those that live underground, are threatened by this aggressively voracious animal.

Economic and ecological threats aside, scientists were at pains to say in our Sunday article that mongooses pose a threat to human health and safety. They are potential carriers of the deadly leptospirosis and even rabies (not currently in Jamaica); and can even bite humans.

It is clear that instead of breeding the mongoose, Jamaicans should find ways to significantly reduce their numbers.

Even if we cannot completely eliminate harmful invasive species, control should always be at the forefront of our minds for the good of all.

Naturalist Damion Whyte says public education is needed.

We support that thought. In school, in public places and in all media (formal and informal) people must be told that promoting harmful and invasive species like the mongoose is more than foolish. In fact, it is antisocial and extremely dangerous.