Black Rat

[darrenm]

Is the Black Rat largely extinct now in the UK? If not where are the best places to see one???

[Ukwildlifeo]

I believe so. I think Places like London Docks are the only places they are now found (and many of them have been regenerated and the rats may have been made homless and or exterminated).

The best (and only) place I have seen them are the captive ones at Wildwood, near Canterbury in Kent

[AshLee]

From the Independent Online, 1995.

Pied piper at the docks - Arts & Entertainment - The Independent

[animartco]

I have always been interested in black rats. I believe they are not quite extinct in Kent. And I'm not blaming Wildwood for releasing them! Long before they started up I found a dead one in the garden. Erm, does anyone know whether they are common in other parts of the world?

[artdemole]

Ship Rat-Rattus rattus Warm parts- med coast can be brown or black also seen sometimes near ports

[darrenm]

The reason i asked was because when i lived in Cardiff in the early 1990's i thought i had seen one or more at the back of the building i lived in and would like to see another one to be able say if i had or not.

It was a late afternoon in the middle of summer and i was on the way to the local shop and took the shortcut at the back of the building.At the time an old warehouse was being demolished and people in flats that backed onto the lane were dumping household rubbish and refuse in bin bags next to it and on top of one of these was a small very dark coloured rat with a very long tail and i stood quietly and watched it for a good five minutes before deciding i needed to get some milk before the shop closed. As i approached the rat just gradually inched away from the food it was eating from the ripped bin bag but when i got within a foot or so from it the rat then leapt over the bags and out of sight.

Both me and the girlfriend at the time went back on later dates to see if we could see it again and we saw it or others briefly on three seperate occasions after that and they were all the same size, very dark coloured and had very long tails in comparsion to the rest of the body length. Once the building had been demolished and the rubbish bags cleared away we never saw any more.

I grew up on a farm in rural Lincolnshire and the Brown or Common Rat were a very common sight (both alive and dead) and the rat/s i saw in Cardiff have always puzzeld me since because they didnt seem like the same species. The area i saw it/them was just off Cowbridge Road East. I have travelled to other parts of Europe where they are known to exist but so far havnt seen one when visiting.