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Two-foot long giant rats immune to poisons
are threatening to overrun Britain's cities
Spread:
The UK Giant Rat Map
Alun Palmer meets a catcher
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Now read true life story
Two-foot long giant rats immune to poisons
are threatening to overrun Britain's cities
A monster rodent was caught and photographed in Liverpool
recently is almost two feet long from nose to tail – this giant rat could be
the shape of things to come
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Huge pest: Giant rats want your leftover takeaway
It's almost two feet long from
nose to tail – and this giant rat could be the terrifying shape of things to
come for many British cities.
Experts believe it is just part
of a growing plague of mutant rodents who are gorging on discarded fast food
and houshold waste.
But there is virtually nothing
they can do to stop them – because the super rats have become immune to
poisons.
Now many local authorities are
lobbying the Government to allow them to bring in new, stronger chemical
concoctions s to curb the invasion.
Merseyside pest controller Sean
Whelan – who captured the latest huge specimen on an industrial estate – warns
the problem is getting worse.
He said: “We’re definitely
seeing bigger rats. Access to food is so easy for them.
"And, just like humans,
the more they eat the bigger they get.”
Sean revealed his company has seen a 15% increase in rat-infestation call-outs in the last 12 months.
He added: “It is not unusual to
see rats this large in rural areas, but it used to be preety rare in city type
environments.
"There is definitely
something going on. I think they might be evolving in some way because of their
immunity to poison.
“We are seeing growth in hot spots
all over the place – in Birmingham, London and the North West.
Spread:
The UK Giant Rat Map
There is a hot spot between
Winchester and Salisbury where all the army areas are. The poisons in those
areas simply doesn’t work.
“Stoke-on-Trent also has a
problem and in London the bait simply doesn’t work no matter how much you put
down and how much they eat.
“It is getting to the point
where we will have to go the EU and the Government to get a decision on
stronger bait.”
Health chiefs say the rats are
finding easy pickings near take-aways, restaurants and household bin areas.
They also believe Britain’s record wet winter has driven the creatures from the countryside to urban regions because their natural food supplies were
hit.
The government’s austerity cuts
– which has meant less money spent on pest control – and poor housing are also
believed to be major factors.
In the 60s and 70s rat poison
was based on the blood-thinning agent warfarin.
Now controllers use a rodent
killer made from bromadiolone. But gradually both types of poison are ceasing
to be effective on some rats.
Calls for stronger baits face
opposition from wildlife campaigners, who fear the move could wreak havoc on
other creaures, sentencing many birds and animals to an agonising death.
The rats carry illnesses which
can be passed to humans, including Weil’s disease, which has flu-like symptoms
initially but can lead to jaundice and kidney failure.
The disease killed Olympic
rowing champion Andy Holmes in 2010.
Liverpool Echo
Monster: The giant rats caught in Liverpool
Liverpool council has seen a
recent rise in the number of reports of rats – 2,008 last year compared with
1,860 in 2012.
Birmingham has the highest
number of call-outs with 5,100 in the past year just ahead of Blaenau Gwent and
Bridgend in South Wales.
Last week Birmingham reported
an explosion in the rat population, with the worst districts identified as
Ladywood, Hodge Hill and Perry Barr.
City pest control officer Colin
Watts said: “One of the biggest I’ve seen must have been 14 or 15 inches long.
“That was just the body,
without the tail. With its tail it would have been over 2ft. It was like a
small cat.”
And the problem is not just confined
to Britain. Other huge rodents have been caught recently at homes in Stockholm
and Dublin.
The Chartered Institute of
Environmental Health has warned that Government cuts are risking “a national
pest explosion”.
In a recent survey, the the
National Pest Technicians Association found only 70% of local authorities
provided an in-house rodent control service in 2010-11 – down from 80% two
years earlier.
Steve Brindley, 59, of Evergreen Pest Control in Birmingham
warned: “ The rats aren’t going to go away .
"They will just breed at a
faster rate because they are not being controlled.”
Estimates of the rat population
in Britain range from anything between 10.5 to 80 million.
But experts agree our changing
climate is good news for rats, bringing them closer to humans and in larger
numbers than ever.
Dr Jan Zalasiewicz, of the
University of Leicester, warned rats could one day evolve to be the size of
cow.
He said: “In evolution, things
get bigger when they know size will serve them well.”
Alun Palmer meets a catcher
Caters
Fight: Pest controller Keith Fellows
The nightmare scenario of an
epidemic of giant rats immune to normal poison has already arrived in Britain’s
second city.
Keith Fellows of Evergreen Pest
Control takes me to see for myself.
He says: “I have seen rats the
size of a cat and if you take in the tail then they are about 24 inches long.
“This is down to the rats
building up a tolerance to poison because people put down non-lethal doses.
"If you don’t double the
dose every 10 days, they build up a resistance. So the rats grow into big daddy
rats. “
Keith pulls up at local pond
and beauty spot to prove his point.
He shows me a series of small
holes close to the water’s edge and says: “This is a rat hole. They are under
there waiting for it to get dark.”
Nearby, a man throws slices of
bread to the ducks, and a woman tips crumbs on to the grass.
Irish Mirror
Big guy: A giant rat in Kingswood
Keith says: “That is just
perfect for rats. At night they will have that. Rats like to live next to
food.”
Pointing at a cracked manhole
cover, he says: “There will be loads there.”
The more time I spend with
Keith, the greater my paranoia. I start sensing rats all over the place.
Keith says I am right to: “They
are everywhere. Birmingham is a hot spot.
"Rats and mice get into
houses through broken air-bricks and other holes and once inside, they nest in
the loft or cavity walls.”
Keith, who has been doing the job
for 21 years, tells some of his experiences in the war against rodents.
He says: “Rats can jump 6ft
high from a standing start.
"I have had them jump at
my head and you have to duck but the rat is more scared than you are.
“They are getting bolder. Sometimes
they just walk up and look at you.”
As I hunt for more rat nests I
tuck my trousers into my socks just in case.
