Overrun By Rats
Britain continues to be the leading place where the overlords of the Animal Uprising™ are gearing up for next year's themed celebrations for the Year of the Rat. They have so many rats prepositioned for the festivities that they are running around in broad daylight looking for food and generally panhandling.
Stand stock still in the open space next to the railings encircling the pond in Waterlow Park and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that a rat will gnaw at your shoe.
Last Sunday just after midday I was witness to several visitors with little children in tow hesisant to cross the road in fear of the rats scurrying across, aghast at the sight of these creatures in broad daylight on a public footpath.
Rats are nocturnal (rarely diurnal) and to find them boldly scavenging for scraps of food thrown to the ducks by inconsiderate visitors came as a surprise to me.
It is time signs were put up to discourage the practice as it is encouraging the breeding of rats in a much loved park. As rats are known to carry over 20 different diseases such as typhus, salmonella and the dreaded weil's, some minor re-landscaping of the rocky outcrops along the bank may be necessary to discourage their breeding and disrupt rat runs.
</humor> This is an even worse problem than the writer acknowledges. Frankly, if you see one rat, you have a lot more. If you see many rats in broad daylight, you have a massive infestation going. And unless something is done very soon, it will get even worse. Will it take a human dying from something like rabies they catch from an infected rat to get the authorities to step in and actually do something?
Animals, World news | Gaius Monday, 4 June , 2007
By feeblemind, Monday, 4 June , 2007 @ 12:25 pm
You are quite right about the rats, Gaius. But controlling a legitimate health problem like rats pales in comparison with controlling imagined threats like transfats and CO2. Where is the glamor in rodent control? Plus you may also draw the ire of the animal rights crowd for your actions.