Rats Rule

by Coleen Kingsley

Britain’s rats are relishing the worst recession in decades by growing their kinfolk to more than 50 million, nearly one rat per citizen.
The rats have found homes throughout England in vacant stores and unfinished houses, all casualties of the economic crisis. At the same time, leaner budgets have resulted in fewer trash collections and less extermination, so the rats are feasting on mounting piles of fetid garbage.
The National Pest Technicians Association Ltd. estimates that the rat population has grown 13 percent this year to more than 50 million, based on industry consensus. Residents have reported seeing rats jumping out of trash bins, darting from headlights and just hanging out.
Weekly garbage collections at 12.5 million British homes fell 7.1 percent in the last three months of 2008 from a year earlier, according to government data. At the same time, the number of vacant businesses and unfinished homes to harbor rodents has skyrocketed — a record 15 percent of British stores will be vacant by the end of 2009. continue...