"It is most likely that they have come from Norway. They have the brown rat there," said Kiruna environmental chief Mats Lahti.
Kiruna’s harsh Arctic climate normally keeps rats away, but they apparently love the warm piles of garbage at its recycling plant, which handles 25,000 tonn?s of Norwegian waste a year.
Local officials have called in exterminators to deal with the four-legged invaders. "We’re not used to this kind of thing in Kiruna, and we don’t want to get used to it," said Lahti.
Kiruna’s misfortune may be a source of mirth in next-door Norway, where poking fun at their fellow Scandinavians is a national pastime.