The UK heatwave is leading to an invasion of rats, new figures show (Image: Getty)
The UK is being hit by a massive plague of rats, according to pest experts who say callouts have soared in the summer of 2026 as heatwaves hit. And the fight against them is being hit by changes in the law with some traps being banned in some circumstances.
Radio 4’s You and Yours reported that callouts have gone up massively from June this year by pest control experts. And an expert said that callouts have gone up 80 per cent in 5 years. A scientist added that people are mistakenly using ‘humane’ traps which effectively kill the rat anyway.
Steven Belmain, Professor of Ecology at the University of Greenwich, also warned people that rats present a serious health problem and will transmit diseases in the UK if not dealt with. Host Winifred Robinson said: “Climate change may be hard for humans and some plants but it seems it’s good for rats. We’ve had a lot of messages from listeners trying to get rid of rats. People who report seeing rats running around in public parks, on the streets or in the bin areas beside their blocks of flats. When we asked the National Pests Technicians Association about it, it told us call-outs for rats are indeed rising – it represents 1,100 companies right across. Rentokill, one of the biggest of them, said calls for help with rats shot up 11 per cent in June, compared with the month before.”
A recent law change made it a criminal offence in England for unlicensed operators to set a glue trap for the purposes of catching a rodent or in a way that risks catching a rodent. Only professional rodent controllers, under exceptional and defined circumstances, and under licence, are now permitted to use glue traps.
New rules also came in this year banning farmers from buying rodenticides unless they have proof of training and certification. A rural rodent survey by BASF Pest Control Solutions, which highlights that rodent activity is affecting all farms, often involving multiple species. Almost all farmers surveyed reported problems with rats and mice, with more than 60% facing infestations of both species simultaneously.
Nick Robertson from HF Pest Control, based in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, which covers London, said: “The callouts have gone up 80 per cent in the last 5-7 years. “ In terms of where rats are attracted to, Mr Robertson explained: “Anywhere at the moment. You’ve got councils which don’t pick the bins up, so you’ve got bin areas, you’ve got parks where there’s leftovers because the bins are overflowing. There’s no general area where they’re attracted, it’s just human beings at the moment, the way we are, the rats have increased because of the way our society is at the moment.”
In terms of the heat helping the rats, Mr Robertson said: “Basically we don’t have cold winters any more, so they’re breeding all year round. I don’t know when the last time we had a really cold winter. Last year I think it dropped under zero for about a week or two weeks, if that, so it’s genuinely warm all year round now and climate change has caused a big problem with the increase of rats.”
In terms of getting rid of rats, he said that a lot of methods they used to use have been ‘taken away from us’: “We have to go down the non-poison route to start off with. So we’d start off with snap traps, if it’s social housing we go for proofing which is to block the holes up to stop them entering the property, and just to try to improve the housekeeping of the general area.
“Poisoning is still in the methods we use, but we’ve got to go down the other methods first before we use poison. It’s a last resort because when the rat dies, that can cause a problem with the smell, the decomposition, but the main issue is to try to improve the housekeeping of the area to stop the rats from going into the area because they’re only foraging for food basically.”
Steven Belmain is a Professor of Ecology at the University of Greenwich who specialises in rodents. In terms of getting rid of them, Ms Robinson said some listeners are desperate to get rid of them, but others worry about cruelty. Julie said: “Kindness to rats please. They are very similar to us, far more so than people probably think.”
Prof Belmain said: “The UK is very good in respecting animal welfare. Glue traps have been banned here. Poisons are a last resort as has also been mentioned. And there are different kinds of traps. The UK is also putting through changes in what kinds of traps can be used so that the traps that we do use are more humane.
“The reality is that the rodent problem. We have created the problem ourselves through our poor sanitation. If we’re going to the park when it’s nice and warm out, and we’re not picking up after ourselves and littering, that is going to exacerbate our rat problem. So we all have some responsibility to try to take care of the environment so that rat numbers don’t go up.”
But he said people thinking traps are humane are mistaken: “In terms of welfare, I think a lot of people will be thinking ‘I’m going to trap the rats alive and then let it go somewhere else. That way, they don’t think they’re actually harming the animal; there’s some sort of welfare effect. What I would say is that when you take a rat from one habitat, and you release it somewhere else, you’re actually causing that rat quite a lot of stress. You’ve put it into a new place where it’s not familiar with the surroundings, it’s still going to have to find food and shelter. Unfortunately, even though there are good intentions, you’re probably killing that rat anyway.
“There are no really good ways of doing this – we have to kill them, and unfortunately, we can’t just move them somewhere else. We want to stop them in the first place and that means stopping the food resources that they’re feeding on. That’s really the most welfare-friendly approach is to improve our sanitation.“
He was asked if they are a health hazard and he said: “Oh yes definitely. So we’ve all just been through a pandemic caused by diseases transmitted by animals, so Coronaviruses we know came from bats, but rodents also transmit many many diseases. It’s a very long list. In the UK we have issues with a disease called leptospirosis or Weil’s disease and that is found in this country.” He said lots of food-borne illnesses like Salmonella and E.coli can be transmitted by rats. “So if you had a rat in your house and it was in your kitchen cupboards, you would really want to be worried about contamination of food that way. If people are going around picking up dead rats in their house, again, be careful, wear gloves, and wash your hands.”
To listen to the full Radio 4 program click here.