Asia losing the rat race?

MARK RALSTON/AFP

In some parts of China and India, rodents are taking over.

In China, an estimated 2 billion field mice have been driven out of their nests by floodwaters from Dongting Lake. Swarms of the tiny critters are blanketing entire hillsides in black, eyewitnesses say. Meanwhile, residents are killing the ravenous crop-devouring rodents in just about anyway they can, with poison, traps, and good ol’ shovel smacks. Local officials say more than 90 tons of rodent—which translates to 2.3 million mice—have been killed.

Meanwhile, Mumbai, India, has been dealing with an overpopulation of rats and a shortage of rat catchers. In this megacity of 17 million people, more than half live in shanties filled with trash—banana peels, coconut halves, butter wrappers—a veritable cornucopia if you’re a rat.

Catching rats was a good gig 30 years ago when India had a more socialist economy and municipal jobs were relatively well paying and secure. Plus, Mumbai had fewer people, less trash, and therefore fewer rats back then. Now though, private-sector work at software companies and call centers tends to attract more people than the job of rat assassin, which pays one 33-year rat-catching veteran just $210 a month. And so, Mumbai’s rat explosion may be just another unexpected consequence of globalization.