article_detail

If the word 'superrat' conjures up images of some giant mutant creature, the reality is slightly less dramatic but arguably more troubling. Rats across the Region of Murcia, and indeed much of Spain, have developed a genetic mutation that makes them resistant to many of the poisons traditionally used to control them and experts say the problem is getting worse.

 

The mutation was identified in 2023 by scientists from the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA), with samples taken across 12 autonomous communities including Murcia.

 

A technician from local pest control company Sanimur confirmed that "there are more and more rats in the Region, especially in the big cities," pointing to a combination of heavy rainfall in recent months followed by the warmth of spring as the reason so many are coming to the surface right now.

 

Manuel García Howlett, director of the National Association of Environmental Health Companies (ANECPLA), explained that the genetic changes "are associated with resistance to the main rodenticides we use, which have an anticoagulant base."

 

To combat this, pest controllers have increasingly turned to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, which are powerful enough to kill rats with a single dose. The problem is that their strength has prompted the European Union to regulate their use, given the risk to other animals and the wider environment, leaving the industry with a shrinking toolkit and, according to García Howlett, not enough investment going into finding new solutions.

 

Climate change is also being flagged as a contributing factor, with milder winters extending the period in which rats breed most actively, adding further pressure to an already difficult situation.

 

Beyond the obvious unpleasantness, rats pose a real public health risk. According to ANECPLA, they're capable of transmitting more than 30 diseases, among them leptospirosis, hantavirus and toxoplasmosis. They're also responsible for significant infrastructure damage every year, with a particular tendency to gnaw through cables and pipework.

 

Recent sightings in Murcia city's La Flota neighbourhood, as well as in La Ñora, La Alberca and Mazarrón, have prompted the local authorities to act. Murcia City Council has confirmed it's stepping up its rodent control programme, deploying six specialised teams to carry out scheduled treatments across both urban areas and outlying districts.