As COVID-19 continues to affect communities across the globe, one English city is dealing with an unusual pandemic effect: cannibal rats. This follows suite as other densely-populated cities have experienced similar phenomena, with shuttered restaurants cutting off the rats’ usual back-alley smorgasbord of scraps. In addition to turning on each other, rats in Stoke-On-Trent are going to extreme lengths to get into houses to find food.
Cannibal Rats Take A Swim
While lockdown restrictions in the UK have begun to ease, months without the usual food waste of busy eateries have altered the behavior of Stoke-On-Trent rats. According to 40-year pest control veteran Mike Flynn, the loss of garbage and waste that was once plentiful outdoors has forced the rodents to boldly go inside. “The rats are getting more brazen and desperate,” Flynn told Stoke-On-Trent Live. As the owner of Alpha Pest Control, he’s receiving his fair share of unusual calls.
One way the rats get into homes is by taking a swim through pipes, entering through toilets or other large drains. “If there is a break in the sewer system they can get in your drains,” Flynn explains. “They will usually come in through the bathroom or kitchen.” Many homes in Stoke-On-Trent date back to the 1950s and 1960s, allowing time for cracks in pipes to develop. Rats can dig up to 2 feet per day, finding plenty of ways to get inside where they can find food.
Turning On Each Other
As a result of limited resources, the rats in Stoke-On-Trent have also taken to cannibalism. For example, Flynn recently checked on a rat he had caught in a trap earlier. The rat was stripped to bare bones, having been feasted on by another. (1)
While it may be distasteful to humans, cannibalism in rats is a common occurrence. Steve Belmain is a professor of ecology at the Natural Resources Institute in Kent. He told The Guardian that cannibalism is often a matter of resources, especially in mother rats eating their offspring. “Mothers will eat their young in the hope of one day being able to reproduce again,” Belmain notes. “If there’s not enough food to take care of herself, she won’t kill herself looking after them.” Since city-dwelling rats rely on restaurant refuse and trash from humans to survive, a change to their resources can easily lead to cannibalistic behavior. (2)
More Work For Pest Control Companies
In May, the CDC issued a warning regarding rodent populations. While residents may notice more rat activity than normal, pest control experts should also be prepared. Responding to “unusual or aggressive rodent behavior” will likely be the norm until restaurants resume usual operations. (3)
Pest control companies like Flynn’s are seeing an increase in calls. British pest control experts Rentokil saw an 80% traffic increase to their website. Additionally, the demand for toilet rat flaps–a spiked, one-way gate for pipes to stop rodent invasion–is very high. (1,2)
As normal activity slowly begins to return to communities experiencing an increase in cannibal rats, these behaviors are likely to lessen. Rats are extremely adaptable. They’ll probably go back to normal much faster than we will.
