We would give him a job

DHAKA – A poor farmer from northern Bangladesh was crowned the country's rat killing champion on Thursday with a final score of 39,650 dead rodents after a year-long hunt.

photo shows a shopkeeper displaying rats which he claimed to have killed in his grocery shop in Dhaka. A poor farmer from northern Bangladesh was crowned the country's rat killing champion on Thursday with a final score of 39,650 dead rodents after a year-long hunt.

Binoy Kumar Karmakar, 40, used traps, poison and flooding to kill his quarry, and collected their tails to prove his success rate and claim a prize from the government.

Karmakar collected a 14-inch Sony colour television for winning the competition for 2008, which was part of a nationwide drive to stop food supplies being eaten up by rats.

"During the year, our farmers killed around 25 million rats," agriculture department spokesman Abdul Halim said. "Binoy Kumar Karmakar has been declared the champion for killing 39,650."

Officials estimate that up to 10 percent of Bangladesh's crops -- mostly rice, wheat and potato -- is devoured by millions of rats every year.

Last year an invasion of rats in Bangladesh's southeastern Chittagong hill tracts region wiped out crops and caused a famine in some remote villages.

The UN's World Food Programme distributed food aid to 120,000 people for four months after the invasion forced affected tribal people to live on wild roots

Rising water means rising rats and mice in Norfolk

It’s not bad enough that we have had snow problems for the last fortnight in Norfolk but there were risks of flash floods from the melting snow at the weekend.

So, on top of worrying about losing all your belongings and furnishings to flood damage and the months of misery that this event could bring, we should now also be aware of the potential danger of rats & mice entering our homes – not just water. It seems the flood waters can displace rodents from their natural habitat and encourage them to seek out new lodgings and food in our damaged homes.

On top of the potential rodent problems caused by floods, bacterial issues in flooded homes can also become a real concern and it is important to carry out effective disinfection in homes to minimise the risk of contamination, especially if you believe you may have had rats or mice! Professional anti-bacterial treatments are available to effectively reduce the risk of infection from flood waters and “flood rats”. Sadly, this is just another issue that needs to be tackled if your home is ever flooded – an event, which climate change experts believe is likely to occur more and more.