Rat plague in Bangladesh- ick!

"Dhaka - The UN's World Food Programme began distributing emergency food aid on Sunday to 120 000 people facing famine in south eastern Bangladesh, where an invasion of rats led to widespread crop destruction.
People from the affected areas in the Chittagong hill tracks were struggling to feed themselves and had been eating wild roots from the jungle ever since the area was overrun by millions of rats, the WFP said. The flowering of bamboo forests for the first time in 50 years in the affected areas, located along a 300-kilometre border stretch with India, led to the so-called "rat-flood".
The rodents multiplied by feeding on bamboo blossoms, rice stalks and vegetables. Villagers said that whatever they tried to grow was devoured within hours.
Plague every 50 to 60 years
The bamboo forests first began blossoming last year in the Lusai Hills in the neighbouring Indian state of Mizoram. Authorities declared it a disaster zone after rats went on to eat food stocks.
Locals said the plague happened once every 50 to 60 years, with the last such disaster in 1958.
It was feared the rats would infest the region for at least three more years, as they did in the late 1950s. " LINK

English climate out of whack- but it's not all just flowers and barbecues. Rats and discombobulated amateur photographers abound too!

"Barbecues and sunbathing were the order of the day when Britain enjoyed some of its hottest-ever February weather at the weekend.

The English hawthorn is expected to flower by the end of the month, more than eight weeks before it normally would. Crocuses opened 11 days in advance of the past decade’s average.

...Britain is facing a plague of rats because of changing weather. Online inquiries to Rentokil have risen by 300 per cent, with reports of more and larger rodents." LINK

All this early blooming is throwing off photographers too.

"Photographers could miss out on capturing pictures of spring flowers because they have appeared much earlier this year than in 2007, warns Kew Gardens in Surrey. " LINK

GROSS! Warm winter = Rats.

Ok, if you ever get a chance to read Rats, Lice, and History by Hans Zisser, you should, because it's a great read.

Rats are so very very nasty. And warm winters = more rats.

Buffalo, NY is dealing with what is being called an infestation- EWWWW.
"Normally, a long hard freeze in winter kills off at least some of the rat population. But the balmy days of December and January mean communities battling rat infestations in metropolitan Erie County won't be able to rely on the weather for a helping hand. " LINK

For just a few reasons rats are totally utterly horrible and dangerous to humans, check out this list of just a few of the deadly diseases associated with rats. (From the CDC)
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
Murine Typhus
Rat-bite fever
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
Leptospirosis.
Eosinophilic Meningitis

And let's not forget my personal favorite rat-spread disease, the Bubonic Plague.