Rodent facts

• There are 5 billion rats worldwide.
  
• The UK's rat population is estimated at 70 million. (one per person!)
  
• Rats breed rapidly - 359 million heirs can be produced from a single pair of rats.
  
• Mice are prolific breeders, producing six to ten litters continuously throughout the year.
  
• A mouse can jump down 12 feet without injury and has a 12 inch vertical jump.
  
• There are 14,000 cases of rat bites at homes in the US every year.
  
• The World Health Organisation estimates that 20% of human food is destroyed
  or contaminated by rodents every year.
  
• The US food and drug administration destroys 400,000 tons of food contaminated by rats every year.
  
• The greatest economic loss from mice is not due to how much they eat, but what
  must be thrown out because of damage or contamination.
  
• The US government states that each rat is responsible for damaging up to $10 worth of food per year and contaminates 5-10 times more than that.
  
• Mice also can transmit diseases, most notably salmonellosis (bacterial food poisoning) when food is contaminated with infected rodent faeces.
  
• Other diseases include rickettsialpox, lymphocytic choriomenigitis,
  leptospirisis, tularemia, Lyme disease and dermatitis caused by the bites of mites from the mice.
  
• Until now, there has been no method of humanely and safely dealing with the problem.