Mutant Rats Have Invaded British Parliament; Experts Blame Evolution

The Huffington Post | Posted: 11/08/2013 11:13 am EST

The British government is reportedly spending the equivalent of more than $11,000 a month fighting mutant rats that have infested Parliament.

According to the Daily Star, pest control experts at the House of Commons spent £7,000 (about $11,216) dealing with poison-resistant -- ergo, "mutant" -- rodents in a single month. That bill represents an increase of 15 percent from two years go.

That's not all. The rats are apparently spreading across the UK. International Business Times reports that the mutants look like normal rats, but eat poison pellets intended to kill them "like feed."

"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," British Pest Control Association spokesman Richard Moseley told the Metro. Ain't evolution a rat bastard?

Since poison doesn't work on the so-called "super rats," officials are turning to more traditional methods of pest control.

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Mutant Rats: Catchers Call For Stronger Poison

Rat catchers are asking for permission to use stronger poisons to deal with a plague of super rats that have developed resistance to common vermin control methods.

The mutant brown rats, which carry life-threatening diseases, have been emerging from their traditional havens in sewers and ditches and taking refuge in people's homes.

The problem has been made worse by recent wet weather, which has driven hordes of rats from flooded drains.

Some of the worst-hit areas are in the affluent home counties including Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxford and Henley-on-Thames, home to the Royal Regatta.

The Health and Safety Executive has been running a consultation after poison manufacturers applied to use stronger poisons, including brodifacoum which is currently restricted to indoor use, to control the UK's estimated 80 million rat population.

Graham Chapple from Newbury-based Rapid Pest Control told Sky News: "They're super rats in that they've genetically mutated and developed resistance to the poisons we currently use.

"The recent wet weather and flooding we've had has seen them pushed out of the sewers and we've had a lot more calls about people seeing rats in the loft or spotting them during the day, which used to be relatively rare.

"They're just looking for somewhere safe to do what rats do, which is breed prolifically.

"The mutations seem to be spreading reasonably quickly and I know they are having problems in Birmingham, Scotland, Hampshire and other areas.

"It is not so much that brodifacoum is a stronger poison, just that the rats haven't developed resistance to it, so it will be much more effective."

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/mutant-rats-catchers-call-stronger-poison-125330131.html