I’m a pest expert – a new breed of ‘super rodents’ resistant to poison could be dangerous to humans
A NEW breed of 'super rodents' are sweeping the UK, and they're immune to poisonous pesticides.
In the last 20 years, most rats and mice in the UK have evolved to build an immunity to a commonly used poison.
Figures indicate that 78% of rats and 95% of house mice now have genes that mean poisons known as anti-coagulant rodenticides are no longer a death sentence.
These pesticides inhibit the production of Vitamin K in the body, which helps the blood to clot.
Pest expert Dr Alan Buckle discusses how serious the threat is.
He told the Sunday Mirror: "Continued use of anticoagulant rodenticides against resistant rats or mice has serious downsides.
"These include incomplete control of the rodents, which leads to threats to human and animal health, a faster spread of surviving resistant rodents and long-term survival of resistant pests that carry poison residues that could then be eaten by predators."
Reports of poison-immune rodents first surfaced in the south of England in the 1990s and the problem has worsened in recent years.
Experts have pointed to the inefficacy of shop-bought repellents.
The rodents, rather than fall over dead, are using the toxic pellets to enhance their size, strength and immunity.
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The British Pest Control Association said: "The trouble is that people who try to treat problems themselves are likely to be making the problem worse.
"The rodents have become resistant and, in some cases, immune to off-the-shelf poisons to the point where they're actually feeding off the toxic pellets, which means their size and strength is increasing."