{"id":41142,"date":"2024-11-22T13:36:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T13:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/?p=41142"},"modified":"2024-12-06T12:19:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T12:19:11","slug":"bristol-exterminator-is-challenging-the-public-perception-of-rats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/2024\/11\/22\/bristol-exterminator-is-challenging-the-public-perception-of-rats\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Exterminator is challenging the public perception of rats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" controls src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/magickal-rat-tours.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Magickal Rat Tours<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week, the Bristol Exterminator has begun offering tours of rat-heavy environments in Bristol, aiming to change the public perception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bristol Exterminator, who calls himself \u2018Ratman\u2019, said that one of the key purposes of the tours is for people to \u201cexperience urban rats in their natural environment while simultaneously learning about some of their fascinating unexplored aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Starting the tours in Turbo Island, Ratman intended to change the beliefs that people have about rats, especially fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/turbo-island.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/turbo-island.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/turbo-island-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/turbo-island-640x366.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/turbo-island-681x389.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The tours began in Turbo Island, showing the rats in their natural habitat. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ratman claimed that he conducts these tours in Bristol, as \u201cIt\u2019s a hotbed for new beginnings and starting things. There\u2019s a lot of local support. I can\u2019t imagine these tours being as successful in London. People here are good at supporting new things, and people are interested.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tours have been criticised by business owners, claiming that having rats causes many problems, and potentially puts their businesses at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> \u201cI find it quite interesting, the fact that people are considering rats a normal thing for the environment. As a business owner, having rats, it means having costs.\u201d says Mario Mallardo, general manager at the <em>Hole in the Wall <\/em>pub in Queen Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Mario-Mallardo-edit.wav\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mario Mallardo, the general manager at The Hole in the Wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ratman-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ratman-2.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ratman-2-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ratman-2-640x366.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ratman-2-681x389.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ratman, the tour&#8217;s organiser aimed to challenge the public perception on rats. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trying to show the impact that rats have had in history, Ratman focused on the role of rat catchers in the Victorian era, and pest control in the First World War trenches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He guided the tour through the Bristol city centre, highlighting the areas in which rats typically congregate, encouraging people to feed them and treat them like normal parts of the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The organiser stated that a goal of these tours was to \u201ctry and change people\u2019s perception on rats, and ourselves as well, understanding nature, understanding our place in the universe to live more in harmony with ourselves and with nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the aspects Ratman emphasised was the toxicological profiles of rodenticides, including arsenic, and how their usage evolved through history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ratman said that the reason he started these tours and focus on rats was \u201cI don\u2019t like seeing rats scapegoated, as well. Maybe I\u2019m just jaded from my day job. Constantly hearing people castigate rats. I\u2019m trying to change public perception.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Ratman-edit-1.wav\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ratman, the tour&#8217;s organiser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also criticised the use of modern pest control methods in the Bristol region, claiming it is very outdated and needs a new approach, believing the term \u2018pest control\u2019 to be archaic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, the Bristol Exterminator has begun offering tours of rat-heavy environments in Bristol, aiming to change the public perception. The Bristol Exterminator, who calls himself \u2018Ratman\u2019, said that one of the key purposes of the tours is for people to \u201cexperience urban rats in their natural environment while simultaneously learning about some of their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"featured_media":41156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1624],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41142"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41298,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41142\/revisions\/41298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}