THEY are a remarkable species, much maligned by many. Including me.

I am not a rat fan but have a grudging respect for the scuttling blighters, so long as they keep their distance.

But is it really necessary to have a World Rat Day?

To be fair, World Rat Day is not a celebration of the wild brown pest but honours the pet variety as a wonderful companion. And I am sure it is.

I have nothing against the pet rat and can see why owners regard them as fascinating companions that suffer from the prejudice of, well, people like me.

So I wish the fancy rats at the RSPCA in Ashley Heath every success in finding happy homes. I feel sympathy, too, for the unfortunate rodents used for experiments in laboratories or fed to pet snakes.

But as a man with, some say, something approaching a rat phobia, let us not get too carried away here. Pet rats are OK (but not in my house) but wild rats are a public health nuisance that can carry diseases like Weil's and Salmonellosis.

And, unless I am mistaken, there seem to be a lot of them around right now after a succession of mild winters.

I don't blame rats at all. They are just creatures, fighting to survive.

What's more, rats (and who can forget Roland Rat getting through to the final of The Weakest Link before narrowly losing to Soo from Sooty last year?) are highly intelligent creatures.

And that is more than can be said for the human vermin who see fit to feed the rat population by chucking their half-eaten kebabs, burgers and chips to congeal on the pavements every night of the week.

They are the real dirty rats.