Poison-resistant ‘super rats’ are driving an increase in Britain’s rodent population and increasingly finding their way into homes and gardens, a pest control expert warned today.
Mark Moseley, who pitched his expertise to Lord Sugar on this year’s Apprentice, said the decreasing effectiveness of rodenticides and a rise in food waste caused by Britain’s rising population is driving a boom in rat numbers.
The entrepreneur said lockdown forced more rats to hunt for food in residential areas where they were being encouraged to stay by plentiful food waste and people feeding birds in their gardens. Rodents also made nests in vacant buildings.
It comes as homeowners shared their stories of rat infestations, with one complaining the pests had been stealing bananas from the fruit bowl at night and another saying they had been crawling over beds.
Many people believe the problem is being exacerbated by less frequent bin collections, with some residents having to wait weeks for their refuse to be taken away. This year Leeds city council had to apologise after repeated missed collections were blamed for rat infestations on one estate.