A UK city has become overrun with rats and mice, with thousands of reports made every year.
Glasgow has become swamped with vermin, shocking stats reveal. More than 27,000 complaints about rats and mice were made in Scotland's largest city in the last three years, while the country as a whole had 70,000 reports made in the same time frame.
Bin crews have now told GlasgowLive they can't deal with rubbish safely as the city is crawling with pests. A union boss blamed less frequent bin collections for the town's growing rat problem.
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Chris Mitchell from the GMB Union said: "I've been raising this issue for a number of years now. Telling the council that it's a daily occurrence. It's having a detrimental effect on our members mental health and wellbeing. It's becoming extremely dangerous.
"Two years ago, we had two members that were hospitalised because of rat bites and scratches. And you look at leptospirosis, Weil's disease. It's a new risk assessment, it can kill you. So this is becoming a public health crisis right across Glasgow."
Glasgow City Council said: "Issues with pest control are being experienced across the UK and it is widely understood that rats became more visible in residential areas during the Covid lockdowns as they went in search of food. We monitor closely the reports received by our pest control team and we are working hard on how we can best address the circumstances reflected in these recent figures."
"There are many factors that can influence a rat population but ultimately rats will thrive in places where there is easy access to food and a place to nest. Residents, owners and factors therefore have a vital role in restricting the presence of rodents in and around their property."
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It's not just Glasgow with a rat problem – many other parts of Scotland report growing rodent issues. In North Lanarkshire, pest controllers were called out to 9,673 rat problems and 2,524 mouse issues.
Meanwhile in nearby South Lanarkshire, the council handled 4,992 complaints about rats and 2,179 calls for mice. In September, locals in Strathaven had a nightmare when rats began devouring baby milk they retrieved from a closed-down chemist after a fire.
Another fire at a nearby butcher prompted an influx of rats with shopkeepers and residents complaining they couldn't get rid of the beasts. Fraser Carlin, who heads up South Lanarkshire Council's planning and regulatory services, said: "Environmental Health are happy to provide advice to landowners seeking advice regarding rodents. The responsibility for dealing with infestations rests with the landowner and in circumstances where property owners are not treating an infestation, Environmental Health would take formal action to ensure an infestation was treated."
A spokesperson from North Lanarkshire Council said: "The council provides a pest control service for residents, including advice and treatment, for a range of pests."
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up Daily Star's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to starletters@dailystar.co.uk
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