rats in parks and in london - is it getting worse ?

Rats on Hampstead Heath

should alarm bells be ringing,
up on the Heath,
maybe no-one is aware,
that there is a thriving community beneath.
i have noticed a increase,
that's the whole point of this communication,
just like the growth in world numbers,
out of control is the rat population.
walking on most paths,
i clearly see the rat increase,
should we accept its natural and wild,
or should we call RENTAKILL to police.
it is organic,
there is no human meddling,
and next time you walk on Hampstead Heath,
think, near you a rat is peddling.

( i don't no about any of you lot, but i am worried in the amount of rats i am seeing in all of London parks particularly hampstead heath, i do understand it is natural but i just wonder are we storing up problems by not limiting and removing there numbers ? maybe you feel i have no right to say this about rats and what makes me feel we should remove them ? or maybe you feel it is disqusting especially in central london - or maybe the statistics are correct - you are never more then 6 feet away from a rat anywhere in london - can not hang about - got to feed my pet - ps its growing and its the size of a cat, i called my pet rat - fridge - thats because it can store more then my fridge.)

My answer to this, is there will always be rats, and there always have been rats living in London and elsewhere. Where there is food there are rats, and there is no shortage of waste food left in bins, all over the place. The rotting food smell attract the rats, because they have a very good sense of smell, much better than ours is. It is impossible to control the rat population, as there are too many of them, they live inside buildings, under the ground, along river banks and all sorts of other places to numerous to mention. Rats are timid creatures, tending to avoid contact with humans, so they wont bite you. However they have a habit of chewing things to keep their teeth ground down, so they can chew cables and anything else that takes comes their way. I have seen cables which have been chewed by a rats, in the kind of places you wouldn't have thought possible for a rat to get to. So we just have to live with them, just like we have done all through history, unless of course, untill someone comes up with a way to stop them. Yes I have seen many rats myself, some of which look rather nasty, the kind you wouldn't want to meet in the dark. The young what I call baby rats, look very much like small mice, so if you saw one you would not think it was a rat.

[QUOTE=Gothic42;71431]My answer to this, is there will always be rats, and there always have been rats living in London and elsewhere. Where there is food there are rats, and there is no shortage of waste food left in bins, all over the place. The rotting food smell attract the rats, because they have a very good sense of smell, much better than ours is. It is impossible to control the rat population, as there are too many of them, they live inside buildings, under the ground, along river banks and all sorts of other places to numerous to mention. Rats are timid creatures, tending to avoid contact with humans, so they wont bite you. However they have a habit of chewing things to keep their teeth ground down, so they can chew cables and anything else that takes comes their way. I have seen cables which have been chewed by a rats, in the kind of places you wouldn't have thought possible for a rat to get to. So we just have to live with them, just like we have done all through history, unless of course, untill someone comes up with a way to stop them. Yes I have seen many rats myself, some of which look rather nasty, the kind you wouldn't want to meet in the dark. The young what I call baby rats, look very much like small mice, so if you saw one you would not think it was a rat.[/QUOTE]

very interesting GOTHIC - but i disagree with it being that we now live in times where we are encouraging them - ie leaving waste out - leaving recycle food waste out - cutting back on cleaners as cousil have no money - people fly tipping - yes there will always be rats but i think we can control how big there population grows by - by simpleinging not giving them a bed to lie on. if that makes sence - i think untill we go back to the old way of collecting rubish and all that and employing street cleaners - then the rats on the heath wont be tempted to come out of there haven into ours and get easy pickings.

[QUOTE=freekingnews;71440]very interesting GOTHIC - but i disagree with it being that we now live in times where we are encouraging them - ie leaving waste out - leaving recycle food waste out - cutting back on cleaners as cousil have no money - people fly tipping - yes there will always be rats but i think we can control how big there population grows by - by simpleinging not giving them a bed to lie on. if that makes sence - i think untill we go back to the old way of collecting rubish and all that and employing street cleaners - then the rats on the heath wont be tempted to come out of there haven into ours and get easy pickings.[/QUOTE]

There are now more food takaway shops in London than there has been ever before, the London population is continually increasing, so with that comes increased binned food waste. The amount of rubbish collected by the council must be huge, so it takes time to get it removed, giving the rats plenty of time to get stuck in. Add to this the cooking aromas wafting around, and the rats are having a field day.

Do you think that putting rat poison in waste food, would solve the problem, or would that create another problem, i.e. the rats would become immune to the rat poison.