|
The scourge of our streets |
SOME Hindus worship them, Michael Jackson serenaded one of them, James Cagney thought them "dirty" and one saved TV AM in the 80s – rats are very much part of our culture.
And there's one thing that's indisputable – their population is increasing. There are thought to be between 60 and 80 million of the rodents in Britain, up 39 per cent since the turn of the century, and pest control expert Rentokil recently reported a 26 per cent increase in rat-related call-outs.
And a good few of the rats are in Scarborough, according to professional ratcatcher Andrew Hunn, of East Coast Pest Control.
He said: "They're definitely a problem in town. Over the summer months we had a lot more rat-related calls than we expected."
"First and foremost it's down to the fact we've not had a really hard winter for about a dozen years," he told the Evening News. "A cold winter will keep the numbers down. But a warm winter provides them with ideal breeding conditions. They have a six-week breeding cycle and so can produce an awful lot of offspring in a year."
Mr Hunn added that last year's wet summer provided ideal conditions for rats to thrive as, due to high rainfall, fields of crops were left standing, meaning the rodents were surrounded by an abundance of natural foodstuffs and plenty of water.
"Our fast-food culture has also had a massive impact – people leave the pub and have half a kebab and chuck the rest away so there's tons of food just lying round in the town centre for rats."
Research by the National Pest Technicians Association supports Mr Hunn's claims. They say that numbers of brown rats and summer rats increased by 39 per cent and 69 per cent respectively from 1999 to 2005.
The NPTA believes the reduction in sewer baiting – putting poison down sewers to kill rats – is one of the major contributors to the rising rat population, along with increased fly tipping, badly managed recycling, poor advice on composting and excessive wild bird feeding.
Yorkshire Water says it does carry out sewer baiting.
Tony Huddlestone, its sewer baiting contract manager, said: "As one of the largest water companies in the UK we manage vast areas of urban and rural land and have to work hard to deliver the high standards of service our customers expect.
"By working closely with 23 local councils and Rentokil we were able to monitor and combat any rat infestations. Proactive sewer baiting enabled us to bring the rodent population under control and Rentokil is always on hand to deal with any reported sightings by residents, visiting homes or sites in less than 48 hours."
Andy Skelton, Scarborough council's environment boss, has said he doesn't feel rats are a serious problem in town. He said there had been five reports of rats in the past month, which was about average, although levels vary on a seasonal basis.
He added: "Anyone who sees rats should report them to the council who have an active pest control service.
"It is worth bearing in mind that at this time of the year it gets colder and people begin to feed birds more often.
RAT FACTS
SEVEN per cent of domestic house fires are caused by rats biting through electric cables.
IN Indian tradition rats are recognised as the vehicle of the Lord Ganesh and a rat's statue is always found in a temple of Ganesh.
In the north-western Indian city of Deshnoke, the rats at the Karni Mata Temple are held to be destined for reincarnation as Hindu holy men. Attending priests feed milk and grain to the rats, of which the pilgrims also partake. Eating food touched by rats is considered a blessing from god.
RATS are the only animal that UK elite forces unit are banned from eating.
ON the Isle of Man, longtail is a euphemism to describe a rat, as a relatively modern superstition has arisen that it is considered bad luck to mention the word. The origins of this superstition date to sea-taboos, where certain words and practices were not allowed to be mentioned aboard ship, for fear of attracting bad luck, or worse, bad weather.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame features literature's most famous "rat", Ratty.
Ironically, the character is not actually a bona fide rat, but rather a European water vole – otherwise known as a water rat, hence Ratty's given name. |
