The UK is experiencing a massive surge in rat infestations, with pest control callouts rising sharply during the summer 2026 heatwave. According to Radio 4's You and Yours, callouts have increased 80% over the last five to seven years, with Rentokill reporting an 11% jump in June alone compared to the previous month.
New laws restrict traps and poisons
Recent legal changes in England have made it a criminal offence for unlicensed operators to set glue traps for rodents. Only professional pest controllers under exceptional circumstances and with a licence can now use them. Additionally, new rules this year ban farmers from buying rodenticides unless they have proof of training and certification. A BASF Pest Control Solutions survey found that almost all farmers reported problems with rats and mice, with over 60% facing infestations of both species.
Nick Robertson from HF Pest Control in Tunbridge Wells said: "The callouts have gone up 80 per cent in the last 5-7 years." He attributed the rise to warmer winters: "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."
'Humane' traps still kill rats, says expert
Steven Belmain, Professor of Ecology at the University of Greenwich, warned that many people mistakenly believe live traps are humane. "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. But when you take a rat from one habitat and release it somewhere else, you're causing that rat stress. It's not familiar with the surroundings and still has to find food and shelter. Unfortunately, even though there are good intentions, you're probably killing that rat anyway."
Robertson noted that many traditional control methods have been taken away: "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."
Health hazards and sanitation
Prof Belmain emphasised that rats are a serious health hazard: "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 added that food-borne illnesses like Salmonella and E.coli can be transmitted by rats, advising people to wear gloves and wash hands if handling dead rats.
He also stressed the importance of sanitation: "The reality is that 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."
Listeners have reported seeing rats in public parks, on streets, and in bin areas. One listener named Julie said: "Kindness to rats please. They are very similar to us, far more so than people probably think." Prof Belmain acknowledged the UK's respect for animal welfare but said: "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."
