Millions of rats swarm the earth carrying disease, eating our food and damaging our homes yet barbaric trapping methods have remained unchanged since Victorian times. Rats are a monumental worldwide problem, but they have no fear of humans and urbanisation allows that they are closer to us and in larger numbers than ever before. The damage that they cause is measured in billions.
In urban and suburban areas of the U.S., there is roughly one rat for every human, causing fires, polluting foodstuffs and carrying diseases such as salmonellosis and leptospirosis. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/1999/01/alien-species-cost-us-123-billion-year-report
In South-East Asia, 1/3 of the rice crop is damaged by field rice rats, yet a mere 10% increase in rice production would feed an additional 380 million people. Overall, it’s estimated that rodents are responsible for depleting one-fifth of the global food supply every year. http://senestech.com/rodent-control-challenges
In the UK in cities such as London, 30,000 rats are born every week. The British Pest Control Association (BPCA) says the spread of super rats has increased in recent years because most shop bought remedies are now ineffective. The rats are feeding on the supposedly toxic pellets, which has helped them grow bigger and stronger as well as build up their immunity. Now there are fears that the rat population, reckoned to be about 160 million, will soar to over 200 million by the summer. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/638571/RAT-INVASION-Hundreds-of-millions-of-poison-resistant-super-rodents-to-hit-UK-homes
A survey for the National Pest Technicians Association in the UK (BPCAUK) found that there were 378,000 local authority call-outs for rat problems in 2015. Richard Moseley, a technical manager with the BPCAUK, said: “Tons and tons of poison are being used to little effect. The more poisons we use, the more resistant rats will become to them. Wildlife think that it is safe to eat, and given the widespread indiscriminate use of poison there is a danger of these poisons leaking into our drinking water.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8032485.stm