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Wild Rats. In the wild, the life expectancy for a rat is much lower: 95 percent of wild rats die before they reach their first birthday. A 1-year-old rat would be around 30 years old in human terms. The most common cause of death in wild rats comes from predators, such as owls, hawks and foxes.
In Arizona, rodents account for as much as 80% of the diet of owls and hawks, and a Great Horned Owl can eat a pack rat daily. These owls live 28 years or more in the wild. Assume that, on average, one owl consumes 300 pack rats annually for 25 years. By killing four owls, this one poisoned pack rat prevented the natural depletion of pack rats by 1,200 each year for the next 25 years. That includes 600 females a year that can bear 20 more each by Christmas, so add another 12,000 rats each year that were saved from natural extinction.