RATS!

photo from iecool.com

You aren't the only one waiting for the next train - scores of rats scuttle around on the tracks, escaping death by a whisker.

In the 17th century, the black rat spread the Bubonic Plague and death through the streets of London. Three and half centuries later, the rat is back!.

This time it’s brown, it’s twice as big and it’s hungry for junk food.

It is said that you are never more than twenty feet away from a rat in London.

People working in sanitation or the food trade will definitely be much closer to them.

The latest National Pest Technician Association (NPTA) survey reveals, "The rodent population of Britain is booming - local councils received more than half a million complaints about them in the past year. It shows the rat population is at its highest level since the first study nine years ago."

The average brown rat is normally under a foot long and weighs less than a pound. But London rat catchers today, report finding them twice that size.

The 'ratty' truth!

Rats are even beneath your feet in the old London sewer tunnels. If you walked down a sewer, then you would be surprised to see how many dead rats you trod on.

Sounds scary, right? But it’s true! In this city, you are sharing space with rats up and down. And it’s your discarded fast food raising them up!

Every hour in London 4000 rats are born. The British rat population is estimated at somewhere around 60 million, which is pretty much the same as its human one. The main difference is the rat's superior reproduction capabilities.

The reason for their explosive growth is the fast-food trade – fish and chips, burgers, pizzas and fried chicken, rats are thriving across London and other English towns and cities because of this.

Keeping the city tidy and cutting back its main food source is the most efficient way to reduce the rat plague.

Indeed, the problem is now so bad that the government and anti-litter organisations run rat-control advertisements in newspapers, on television and even along with movie trailers.

It can be a major problem if the government or environmental organisations do not take this rat fight seriously.

As for us, the people living in London, next time, before you throw away your food, think about how you are encouraging these furry critters around you.