By Exopest on Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 in Print.
news.com.au | Thu, Nov 7th, 2013
Photo: Disease-carrying “super rats” are taking over other rat populations. Picture: AP Source: AP
The rats look like normal rats but cannot be killed by regular poison pellets and eat them “like feed”.
The disease-carrying rats are taking over other rat populations, experts say.
They have been spotted in Kent and Sussex in the southeast of the country and the West Country in the southwest, the International Business Times reports.
The rats have also reportedly been sighted further north in Oxford and Berkshire, sparking fears that they are spreading.
Pest controllers want to use more lethal poisons in order to stop the rats travelling further but are facing resistance from authorities.
Richard Moseley from the British Pest Control Association said: “Normal rats are being killed off by poison, so these resistant species are taking their place – it’s only natural that their numbers are expanding.
“But they’re being found further afield than previously anticipated.
“They eat poison like feed, you might as well be leaving out grain for them.”
Dr Dougie Clarke, from the University of Huddersfield, said even poisons used by pest control experts were not strong enough to kill them.
“There are obviously health concerns and worries about the bacteria they carry, such as salmonella,” Dr Clarke said.
“They carry a lot of diseases, including Weil’s, which has been linked to deaths. They also chew on electrical cables.”
But pest controllers’ bids to use stronger poisons have so far been denied by the Health and Safety Executive because there are fears they will damage the environment and kill other wildlife.