For thousands of years we have been at the top of the food chain in this country with no other animal coming close to our dominance of the animal kingdom. Sure, we sometimes do not come out best in an all out fight with other animals but we then remove that threat pretty soon with predudice. Nothing is allowed to threaten us.
After an event though all that will change. Our numbers will be dramatically reduced, our retaliation postponed and this will cause the balance of power in the animal kingdom to change. An insurrection in the animal world will be on the cards and our survival will be threatened by several predators. One of the greatest threats will be Rats. Most other predators in the UK are large and can be shot, trapped or frightened away. Even domestic pets turned feral will threaten us but those again are a lot more easily handled. A dog, single or even in a pack, can be trapped or shot easily. Potentially driving any remaining away. One shot and one dog for the pot. Rats will be so numerous that those options will not be viable as you could shoot dozens of rats and they will still be running towards you hungry, at that point you may reconsider your place in the food chain. Personally, I’m looking at it now and I don’t like what I see.
Rats breed quickly, they are practically fearless in packs, or mischiefs, and will be driven wild by hunger. There are millions of rats in our cities now and after an event there will be a population explosion with nobody to control their growth and the possibility of a large amount of food, our dead bodies. Once that is gone the food supply will be our living bodies. Rats will swarm over living people and will take bites out of our flesh. When we start bleeding, if we are not already, then the blood will initiate a feeding frenzy. I think we would have difficulty controlling this, especially after the population explosion and the start of the lack of food.
Eventually though this would settle back down but not to where we are now, but to a sustainable level for the rats. Rat numbers have already increased around the UK due to the new recycling initiatives and the lack of vermin control. That is only the start of their growth. Eventually, they will be the dominant animal in our inner cities and we will live in fear of them. They will roam freely and avoiding us will not be top of their list of desires as it is now. Having to set traps and make our homes as rat proof as possible at a minimum with the real possibility we would need to relocate depending on our situation.
In the inner cities our chickens, ducks and other livestock will be under threat from rats and they could very well exterminate those parts of our food supply in a very short space of time. It is very difficult to protect against a predator like the rat who can chew through concrete and squeeze through small holes and pipes. They could eat through our stores and what they do not consume they will destroy with their actions and waste. Even our non edible supplies would be damaged by their actions of breaking open containers and letting air and moisture in while they turn our stores into a a home.
On the plus side though rats could very well become one of our main source of meat. It’s not something we are looking forward to but they will be abundant, they are edible and they can be trapped or shot. The major downside though is that by default they will harbour disease and we need to be very careful there.
At the moment though I am looking at rat proofing what I can and even going as far as to consider looking at rat as a food source now. They are readily available as food for reptiles in pet stores and are disease free. Wild ones will not be but I see this in a similar way to pigeons now. Inner city pigeons are dirty, disease ridden creatures whilst country pigeons are a good food source. I see rats, squirrels, pigeons, rabbits all being sought after for food. We could even farm them and keep them as livestock if we had the facilities. Rats will chew their way through anything though so we need to be careful, they wouldn’t be your first choice in farmed food. I wonder if tamed rats would be a target for wild rats? Would they keep them away?
Farming and eating rats? Worth thinking about and something that needs further investigation. I’ve certainly got it on my list.
sk
Your right about rats they are the most fearless and fierce Little buggers Ive ever come across. Ive been hunting since I was five(with my father and grandfather) and been running pest control on local farms since age of 13 on my own. While I take rabbits, squarral, and wood pigeon for food I WOULD NEVER TAKE RATS FOR FOOD EVEN IF THEY COUNTRY RATS. They carry too many parsites and dieseses. On the other hand farming them as a food source is a good idea but not my first choice.On my small holding along with wild meat and the normal small holders animals of chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, sheep, and a good all purpose milk/beef cow, For the last five years Ive been farming rabbits. I also farm tilapia fish in my aquaponics system that eat the chicken/fowl poo. Im currently looking in to farming wall fish (ie garden snails). My point is that we have many different things we can farm than rats and these smaller animals, fish and insects/seflapods will become the norm in years to come even without an event, as experts say that meat prices will go up by 40% with in five years. Also the way grain/foodstuff prices are going up we will not beable to afford to farm the tradition livestock. Any way enough with my rambling we need to enjoy and be thankful for the lives we have now BUT ALWAYS BE PREPARDED.
Earth Pilgrim
Sounds like you are doing OK there. Where did you get your tilapia fish from? I have a barrel waiting for some as an experiment.
I would have though country rats would be much healthier than their inner city cousins. It is just that rats are dirty creatures anyway. I knew someone with a pet rat and it was a clean creature and kept its home clean as well.
i watched a program on the tv about rat control in london. aparently the best thing to use is portland cement with broken glass mixed in quite small pieces as they cant chew the glass.
Or dont live in London and buy a Jack Russell with a sociopathic hatred of rats and cats my were- terier is never happier when he is dispatching either.
As with all areas of life, a huge increase in food supply will move up the food chain rapidly. And as rats are not Apex predators I would expect an explosion in rat popultations to be quickly followed by a huge population in Cat , fox (and maybe birds of prey) populations.
Through 1000’s of years of domestication I feel cats will remain close to humans for shelter, warmth and protection, but they will pretty much feed themselves.
I have never heard of any area in the worlds history when an huge increase in food has not moved up the food chain, assuming the food chain is complete in that area.
And as Humans are above Cats and Foxes in the food chain, and would also happily be supported through a very stong bond by dogs I can’t see why this would be something to worry about?
M
Cats and Dogs don’t reproduce at the same rate. It may work in the natural world but this is artificial and sheer numbers may very well see cats and dogs overwhelmed.
Did you know rats have much in common with humans, Both form criminal deliquent gangs of youngsters, both will go around raping vulnerable females, both will kill anything vulnerable even if not for food.
Both will practise canibalism. Both outbread limited resources. Almost human in many ways rats are the same as many feral city kids.
BTW Squirrels are genetically identical to rats according to David Attenboroughs research, they just choose to live up trees rather than underground. they are just hairy arsed tee rats.
Many moons ago – when it was only the BBC and in b&w – I recall seeing a documentary regarding rats. Without going into reams of reportage on the item the main conclusions that I came away with are that rats are very much like humans in many respects and also that if you have too many of them in an enclosed space they will self regulate their population (not pleasant).
We currently have a very small rat problem at the moment with the little perishers nesting in one of my sheds – rat bait seems to have removed them for the time being. Some electronic devices that I thought would work did not seem to have much effect on them – agitated my wee dog a bit though so turned them off. Will have to repair shed floor at some point in time possibly with some thin metal sheeting.
[…] Skean Dhude has a thought provoking article about the dangers of animals after a collapse or disaster called Insurrection in the Animal Kingdom […]
With regards to exploding rat populations in an after event scenario and using them as a food source, would not cooking eradicate the diseases they carry and make them safe to eat?