I Smell a Rat in the BBC's Claims of Climate Change 'Ratmageddon'

There are much more likely explanations for the rodent explosion than slightly milder weather

There is nothing that a BBC ‘journalist’ will not try to turn into a story about climate change. Last week, it was the story of rats – Ratmageddon, according to BBC News Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt, is upon us. In Britain and the USA, rat populations have increased. And since global warming has destroyed the rat’s main enemy – cold – it is very obviously anthropogenic climate change that is responsible for the rodent’s population explosion.

I, erm, smell a rat though. Isn’t it odd that we hear so much about mankind’s impact on the natural world, and especially on animal populations, yet the urban rat is thriving? The Living Planet Index – a fictional metric of the world’s wildlife population – for example claims that 70% of wildlife has disappeared since 1970. What a pity that the humble sewer rat is not on such a path to extinction, it being one of so few creatures to have developed the capacity to adapt to very slightly different weather and urban expansion.