Page Hall in Sheffield a 'rats' paradise' amid record fly tipping and council must do 'much more'
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Shaun Outram and his two Jack Russells kill ‘four or five’ a week in his tiny back garden alone, he says.
He regularly sees them during the day, while at night they are ‘running everywhere’. And some are now so huge they can survive a trap and crawl away dragging it with them, he says.
Mr Outram, of Willoughby Street, says his dogs finish them off quickly, but a neighbour has four cats who often take them back to his home alive.
He said: “It’s an absolute nightmare living round here, it’s a rats’ paradise. At times I can’t get my dogs to come in at night. They can hear them scurrying and they just go mad.”
He and his neighbours are ‘very upset, frustrated and angry’ about the situation, he added.
But despite regular council clean-ups, fly tipping is at record levels, which he believes is a big part of the problem.
Mr Outram said road sweepers came every two weeks and fly tipping was cleared every second Thursday.
He added: “I’m not slating the council. They are doing their bit. But much more needs to be done.”
That included clearing rubbish in back gardens and back yards and serving notices on landlords if necessary. Council workers had also told him they would be using ‘new and better bait’ on their traps, he said.
Sheffield City Council was contacted for comment.