Farmers use scarecrows to keep the birds away and while that may not be fully effective, I also don't hear a lot of stories of crows infesting farms and eating all the crops. Muggles have gnomes, too, ya know? They don't look like the magical gnomes wizards are use to, but there is no reason they can't. Make statues of the real thing. Or keep the appearance of the cute- mini-Santa-looking man. Maybe Horklumps are scared of those, too? I mean, Muggles don't have a Horklump problem. Maybe they're on to something with the creeper man statues?

Another solution would be to get a guard dog. Or guard pet of any sort. Train them to protect your garden, yard, and lawn and scare away the little mushroom things. Birds are also a good option. Have a pet bird or have a bird feeder to attract birds. They would be competition for the Horklumps since they eat worms, too...right? When food becomes scarce , the Horklumps would naturally have to look for a different spot.

I would create a potion that would render the horklump sterile, much like how like in the muggle world there is a product that can be added to canned food to sterilize both male and female animals with no side effects.

This potion would be added as a water supply for the area that the horklumps are dwelling in. The area would also be fenced off, to protect the horklumps from being decimated by their natural predators, as well as to provide shelter for the creatures.

They can have their juice carefully harvested, since it is important in a number of healing potions, and the horklumps would become community creatures, and have a caretaker to watch over and tend to them, much like community cats are cared for by a caretaker.

This would be a humane solution that works well for all the parties involved.

If Horklumps fell under category 1, being like a fly then the answer is simple, eradication by a magic vapour which overwhelms them and puts them to sleep permanently. If they fall into category 2, being like a mouse, then a potion that is ingested by worms and can double as a fertilizer for the garden, but which renders the Horklump sterile after eating the worms, could be developed.

If however they fall into the category of a dog or a cat then I feel that relocation to a suitable area is the only answer.

So how would I start? First of all I would try to find out if Horklumps keep breeding even if there's no more space left for new individuals, or if they realize it and stop producing offspring just like certain rodents for example. Once I know this for sure I could decide what my next step would be.

Scenario 1 - Horklumps stop breeding once overpopulation has reached This is the easier scenario of course. Just put Horklumps into fenced off (and gnome-secure) areas and care for their needs, everything else should regulate itself.

Scenario 2 - They keep breeding. In this case I would try to find some balance, possibly trying to figure out a potion or spell to (temporarily) remove the reproductive instinct for all but a few Horklumps. This plan would need A LOT careful studies beforehand though in order to keep everything as ethical as possible - Horklumps are creatures after all so we should still treat them with respect.

This would prevent Horklumps from becoming pests while maintaining a balance on both Horklump and gnome population, thus being healthy to the environment and allowing wizards to sustainably harvest the Horklump's useful properties.

I believe that the solution to the Horklumps Overpopulation relays on careful monitoring and then giving them, to an extent a purpose.

My first thought of course was to talk to the Scandinavians, as this is where the Horklumps originated, to see if there were other known predators in their past. For instance, it is rumored that Reindeer from that area are quite found of "magic" mushrooms. What if perchance they were an original predator of the Horklumps that did not migrate with them? This has happened before in the case with other species. Though this could seem cruel, to introduce a predator, this could be another option and reindeer are quite valuable.

Having said that, the more humane option to try, rather then restoring a possible food chain, would be to separate the Horklumps by gender.

Ive researched that there is a possibility of them coming in multiple colors, this could peak an interest in domesticating them. Perhaps then the Horklumps could be trained as potential garden guardians or potted plant guardians. Even possibly trying to expand their food sources to include other typical garden and potted plant pests. Going further then that, perhaps it could even be the eccentric pet for a garden enthusiast!

However, if domesticating them became the case, I do believe breeders should be LICENSED and monitored by the Magical Creatures department of the ministry to make sure that proper precautions and regulations are followed.

Horklumps are not the real problem here. Why should we control the population? When did we become so insightful as to know what amounts of any creature we should have? No I wouldn't control it one bit. I would, however utilize them in an effective manner. Children today are far too undisciplined. Many parents give their children whatever they want, in complete disregard to what is actually healthy to said child. In turn we are creating brats and children who take things for granted.

My proposal is thus: use the Horklumps to help in day care situations. Imagine a overactive toddler needing a good work out. Have a Horklumps around and turn the lights down low to make it think its night. Child chases Horklumps (could be magicked to move faster if needed), tickles--we have more ingredients for the Wiggenweld Potion, if the child is injured, well they were in need of a punishment any way and thus should learn their lesson. Of course, a mediwizard could be on hand but hey, pain builds character--right?

Older children in need of a good spanking? Problem solved, bring in a Horklump. Child learns to be a better person and the horklump has no energy afterwards to do anything but sleep. Its a win-win after all.

In all seriousness, I firmly believe that "controlling" a population as people call it is playing with fire. We should not assume that we know everything because we are wizards. A bit of magic does not make us all-knowing. Furthermore, there are those that would say werewolf should be "controlled" even if they are under the wolfsbane potion. People focus on the 3 days of being a "monster" and not the rest of the month as a human. How can we possibly think we know enough to say we have the dominion over this creature as well?

Concerning the fact that Horklumps are indeed a carnivorous animal rather than a plant, one should be aware that there are different ways to treat creatures from plants. As they are rather simple creatures which resemble mushrooms, there's the possibility that they don't need other horklumps to mate. For this, the scientific term would be Parthenogenesis. It even occurs in lizards.

Streeler venom is one of the known substances that is able to kill Horklumps. I have no intention to kill them so I would invent a potion where the Streeler venom is an ingredient - though it would be diluted as it's really venomous and burns all the vegetation it touches. Adjusting the other ingredients, the potion would be made only effective on Horklumps, leaving other creatures and plants alone.

When mixing the potion with water to water the garden, the mixture will trickle into the soil which will have an effect for roughly 3 days. In case a Horklump appears and tries to spread its tentacles into the ground to feast on earthworms, the Streeler venom in the potion will cause the Horklump to withdraw as it hurts them. Regarding the fact that the Horklump isn't able to find food in the potion-soaked ground, it will move on and leave the garden alone.

Like any creature there are natural predators, it should be researched on what the natural predator was in Scandinavia. Did it even have one or did some witch or wizard accidentally create a pest without meaning to? Either way a natural predator, besides gnomes which are pests themselves, needs to be found. If not, well the juice might be beneficial in potions but it doesn’t negate the fact they can become a hazard if left uncontrolled. If there was a way to create a potion that could be sprayed or sprinkled over the creatures that would stop the breeding cycle that might be one alternative. At least for the use on the ones near wizarding homes.

A natural predator or a potion, besides those options there is not much more I would do. It might sound cruel but elimination of the ones being pests might be the only option and would help with population control. After all, if they keep breeding and growing without being stopped in some way they could destroy natural habitat that is important to other creatures. Those are some of my ideas.

• Maddox Price

Physiology and ecology

Horklumps originated in Scandinavia, but eventually spread throughout northern Europe, and could be found in Scotland by 1991. They resembled fleshy pink mushrooms covered in a sparse scattering of coarse black bristles. Despite their fungi-like appearance, Horklumps are animals. Their preferred prey is the earthworm, which they hunt using the thin, muscular tentacles that they spread underground (similar to how fungi spread mycelium). Horklumps are very fast breeders .

For me there might be a need to controll their fast breeding, due to the fact, that they may look cute and pink, but who would want a pink garden? But then there is no denying in the use on the uice we can get from them. So for healing facilities (and schools) they are good to have at hand. A good way to controll the spread might be if you just put them in large pots - so that they can breed inside the pot, but not outside of it. Create sort of a natural border for them and make sure they find all they need in the restricted place. And around the edge make sure there's nothing they want and find tasty. So you can grow smaller populations without really having to gow to much into sterilization.

After all, they are animals and wild ones for that.

This might be hard to do, since they breed like funghi generally do - which mean they can spread. But maybe there is a way to make sure they are not willing to spread further, if there's no food or good conditions. Streeler Venom, which is known to kill them (poor things) might eb of use to make sure they do not spread wider then we want them, too. It might work the same way as with snails who want to reach the salad - there are natural way to prevent the snail from slime to the salad. For snails and slugs, Sawdust works as this is dense and unattractive to slugs and snails and they will avoid crossing it unless they are starving. Maybe we could figure out a way to do something simular with the Streeler Venom, to prevent the Horklumps from growing out of a special place in the garden.

Apart that and apart from trying to subdue them with gnomes, we may have to contact Scandinavia and ask if and how they controll this pink pest. Maybe there are some natural things that are widly known there and we could learn from the experineces they've had in the past.