Plagues of mice and rats spreading, say pest controllers
Pastor Dale Morgan
Plagues of mice and rats spreading, say pest controllers*
Last Updated: 2:29am BST 04/08/2007
UK Householders are facing a plagues of mice and rats this summer,
heightening the risk of disease, pest controllers warned yesterday.
Warmer winters, the prevalence of rubbish on the streets and homeowners
renovating their houses are all causing mice and rat numbers to escalate
at an alarming rate, say experts.
The pest control firm Rentokil released figures yesterday showing that
homes and businesses with mice and rat problems increased by nine per
cent in the past year.
The number of calls in London and the South East rose by 23 per cent.
Although there is no accurate way of counting the number of mice or
rats, it is the second year in a row that calls to deal with
infestations have climbed substantially.
Experts regard this as a reliable indicator that mice and rat numbers
are soaring.
Savvas Othon, the technical director of Rentokil, said he was shocked by
the increase.
"London, especially the centre, is a real problem," he said. "I think
it’s down to councils such as Westminster putting out all the rubbish in
bin bags rather than metal wheelie bins. If you go around the streets at
10 or 11 at night you see all these bin bags and lots of mice or rats
scurrying around."
Homeowners are often unable to deal with the problem with a seemingly
endless array of traps, poisons and deterrents on sale. "People think a
bowl of poison or a mouse/rat trap will do the trick," said Mr Othon.
"But mice and rats like to move around."
A single mouse or rat spotted in your kitchen is usually a male foraging
for its family - and a sign that there are many more hiding beneath the
floorboards or behind a false wall.
Oliver Madge, the chief executive of the British Pest Control
Association, warned that the rodents posed a serious health hazard.
"They have the potential to spread diseases just as much as the rats,"
he said. "The problem is that they cannot control their bladders and
urinate continually."
In recent months he had been called out to deal with mice and rats that
had eaten through fibre optic cables in an office in Swindon, causing
damage worth £30,000.
Of more concern, Salford University found that 59 per cent of the mice
caught in Manchester were carriers of toxoplasmosis - a disease that
poses a serious threat to pregnant women.
Mr Madge said the best ways to keep mice out of the home were to make
sure no food was left out, blocking up any holes and keeping the
temperature down.
However, the increased use of central heating and the popularity of home
renovations - creating ever wider cavities within stud walls and false
ceilings - are making homes and offices the perfect habitat for wild
mice and rats.
Mr Savvas also blamed councils that had cut back on pest control. "Some
are getting very proactive, like Manchester and Bristol," he said. "But
many have cut their budgets and the first thing that goes is pest control."
Mice lovers were keen to point out that pet mice - or fancy mice, as
fans of the domesticated mice call them - posed far less of a threat to
human health.