- It is no more than nine inches long,
but has helped wipe out whole populations.
-
- In the Middle Ages it cut a swathe through
Europe carrying the Black Death to millions. In the 17th century, it was
blamed for spreading the Great Plague of London which killed 70,000.
-
- The black rat, or rattus rattus, has
left a deep scar on history, but for the last 100 years is assumed to have
been wiped out in this country.
-
- Today however, a shadow of concern is
casting its way up from the West Country after a series of sightings and
now confirmation that a black rat corpse has been found.
-
- The news strengthens suspicions from
other areas, mainly docks, that the species is making a comeback. Port
workers from Tilbury, through Hull, Truro and Falmouth to Liverpool, have
been claiming sightings.
-
- Even Edinburgh has been listed as one
of 23 possible locations for its return and it is now being suggested that
the black rat may, in fact, never have reached extinction here.
-
- The Cornwall catalogue has been logged
by Melanie and Spencer Rickard, who run a pest control service in Redruth
used by seven local councils.
-
- The first entry records a sighting by
a householder in Porthleven two years ago and the discovery of spiral-
shaped droppings in contrast to the 'jelly bean' shape of the common rat.
-
- The second is a report from Mylor Bridge
eight months ago that black rats were seen on a garden bird table.
-
- Then in Truro this week the Rickards
were called after a resident said her cat brought a black rat into the
kitchen. The pest officers' dog found a corpse.
-
- But while the symbolism of the find may
be sinister, the experts are reassuring.
-
- Mrs Rickard said: 'All rats carry diseases
and potential dangers and, of course, the black rat's reputation is akin
to that of the Devil. But bubonic plague was brought into this country
from East Asia by fleas. The black rat was merely its means of transport.
-
- 'Whether the rat is brown, black-and-white,
brown-and-white or bright orange ñ and inter-breeding has produced
all these hues ñ the real danger lies in its urine, not its bite.
Get it on your hands in the garden, rub the sweat out of your eyes and
it's in the body's system.'
-
- Mrs Rickard does not believe the black
rat did vanish completely. Nor does she think the latest discoveries came
by ship.
-
- 'They are too scattered,' she said. 'One
was five miles inland. My view is that while they may have been very few
in number, they have just been lying low, awaiting their chance to thrive
again.
-
- 'The brown rat is so much more adaptable
and tough that it was thought the black rat had had its day. But the black
was here first and, now, with the brown rat going soft and dining on burgers
and kebabs, it is filling the void in the countryside. We shouldn't worry
so much as rejoice in the return of diversity.'
-
- Professor Nicholas Orme, history expert
at Exeter University, added a more soothing words. 'The plague wasn't the
fault of rats,' he said. 'They were infested with fleas carrying the disease.'
-
- And Cornish environmental health officer
Ian Bott added: 'The true culprits were the fleas and they have not survived.
We see its reappearance as a novelty, with little risk.'
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