The Most Undeservingly Hated Creatures

It is possible to exterminate 'pests' without hating them. But perhaps you should say a little thanksgiving and thank the creature for giving its life for yours.

I own 3 rats as pets and they behave very similarly to dogs. They come when you call them, some like to cuddle, they like being pet and do tricks for food.

Agreed. But what if those "fellow earthlings" don't agree to let YOU live?

It is wrong to hate any fellow earthling, they all have a place and a reason to exist. Live and let live.

Wrong about the rats & the bubonic plague. Yes it's the fleas on the rats that are mainly responsible for infecting humans, but it's the rats that carry them around. A flea sucks blood from an infected rat, jumps to another rat and infects that rat etc. So in other words: the more rats, the more fleas that are carried around that spread the disease. No rats, no bubonic plague.

And pestilence is still alive and kicking today. In fact they are still monitoring the rat population in certain areas around the world to make sure we don't get another epidemic.

"Climate changes associated with global warming favor outbreaks of bubonic plague in areas where humans live in close proximity to infested rats or fleas."
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/environmental_law/2006/08/another_byprodu.html