Rats: Loathsome Pests.

Old adverts: "There he is! Our enemy, the rat. He's about as loathsome a creature we know. ... Look at that wicked countenance. Oooooh. The mere sight of it gives you gooseflesh."

Ooh, gooseflesh. Speaking of gooseflesh, when a little baby rat sticks his big scary nose in my ear, it gives me gooseflesh. Very tickly.
Oh, yes, but back on topic: We wonder WHY people are so afraid of rats?

Old adverts: "The rat is, by far, the most costly mammalian pest and the most dangerous animal enemy of man."

Um, actually, man himself is a considerably more costly mammalian pest, financially, environmentally, you name it.
And yup, you guessed it, man himself is also the most dangerous animal enemy of man (and of every other animal on this planet too).