Southampton
| NEWS | |  | | | OTHER SPORT | | | CINEMA | | |
|
|
|
Rats keeping council pest squad busy
THE explosion in the number of rats in Winchester shows no signs of abating.
Figures from the city council show that the rodents are continuing to increase their population at a rapid rate.
Mild winters, an increasing resistance to poison and people feeding birds are blamed for the growing problem.
Between Aril 2006 and March 2007 the council pest control service had 1,864 call-outs.
In the same period of 2007-08 the figure was 2,489, an increase of a third.
In February 2007 the figure was 204, compared to 286 this February, a 40 per cent rise; March 2007 compared to March 2008, the rise was from 177 to 242, a 37 per cent rise; and April 2007 to this April, 232 to 299, a 29 per cent increase.
The council is one of the few to operate a free service to deal with rats.
A spokesman said the five pest control officers were currently extremely busy.
She added: "The main reason is the recent wet summers and mild winters which means the breeding season is a lot longer. If it doesn't get cold they keep breeding."
The problem was aggravated by resistance to poisons and and people leaving food on the ground for birds.
4:44am Saturday 19th July 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: cat lover on 5:03am Sat 19 Jul 08
The total for July will reduce . . . they were on strike for two days
The total for July will reduce . . . they were on strike for two days
Posted by: thrifty on 5:18am Sat 19 Jul 08
Five workers = 100K a year including sick benefits, insurance, petrol and wotnot.
Tell people to pop into Sainsburys and by some cheap rat poison and solve[bold] their[/bold] problem themselves and stop draining the public purse in this nanny state.
Five workers = 100K a year including sick benefits, insurance, petrol and wotnot.
Tell people to pop into Sainsburys and by some cheap rat poison and solve
their problem themselves and stop draining the public purse in this nanny state.
Posted by: Mmmmm on 5:33am Sat 19 Jul 08
Mmmmmm
[bold]"If it doesn't get cold they keep breeding"[/bold]
Could this be the reason behind the explosion in teenage pregnancies??
Mmmmm
Mmmmmm
"If it doesn't get cold they keep breeding"
Could this be the reason behind the explosion in teenage pregnancies??
Mmmmm
Posted by: Big Boy, Hythe on 6:58am Sat 19 Jul 08
I would have thought that the breeding would have been dependent upon the food supply rather than ambient temps.
I would have thought that the breeding would have been dependent upon the food supply rather than ambient temps.
Posted by: Al Gore on 7:10am Sat 19 Jul 08
[quote][bold]Big Boy[/bold] wrote:
I would have thought that the breeding would have been dependent upon the food supply rather than ambient temps. [/quote] Something else to blame on GlowBall warming.
Big Boy wrote:
I would have thought that the breeding would have been dependent upon the food supply rather than ambient temps.
Something else to blame on GlowBall warming.
Posted by: hoo flung dung, southampton on 7:41am Sat 19 Jul 08
the biggest one just took a huge pay rise in the county council, did'nt he???
the biggest one just took a huge pay rise in the county council, did'nt he???
Posted by: Ian, bitterne park on 7:41am Sat 19 Jul 08
[quote][bold]thrifty[/bold] wrote:
Five workers = 100K a year including sick benefits, insurance, petrol and wotnot. Tell people to pop into Sainsburys and by some cheap rat poison and solve[bold] their[/bold] problem themselves and stop draining the public purse in this nanny state.[/quote] As the report clearly states
[bold]The problem was aggravated by resistance to poisons and and people leaving food on the ground for birds.[/bold]
So stay at home and save your money but dont feed the bloody birds!! Simple.
Thrifty made a brave attempt to bring in another debate about the so called nanny state but failed miserably.
Never mind.
thrifty wrote:
Five workers = 100K a year including sick benefits, insurance, petrol and wotnot. Tell people to pop into Sainsburys and by some cheap rat poison and solve their problem themselves and stop draining the public purse in this nanny state.
As the report clearly states
The problem was aggravated by resistance to poisons and and people leaving food on the ground for birds.
So stay at home and save your money but dont feed the bloody birds!! Simple.
Thrifty made a brave attempt to bring in another debate about the so called nanny state but failed miserably.
Never mind.
Posted by: Roland, soton on 8:26am Sat 19 Jul 08
Councils do not have to empty your bins ! Clever lot this NooLab, Vote NooLab - you know what you get !
Councils do not have to empty your bins ! Clever lot this NooLab, Vote NooLab - you know what you get !
Posted by: pikey, new forest on 9:55am Sat 19 Jul 08
This is no surprise as Winchester has always been full of rats. The answer is to bulldoze the whole place and start again.
This is no surprise as Winchester has always been full of rats. The answer is to bulldoze the whole place and start again.
Posted by: Wintonian, winchester on 10:34am Sat 19 Jul 08
Rats we can handle, pikeys would be another matter, still they are easier to find the smell gives them away !
Rats we can handle, pikeys would be another matter, still they are easier to find the smell gives them away !
Posted by: Wewullywinky on 12:30pm Sat 19 Jul 08
[quote][bold]hoo flung dung[/bold] wrote:
the biggest one just took a huge pay rise in the county council, did'nt he???[/quote] It must be a real problem for the pest squad to keep those in office under control.
It's anoying when they try to justify their existance by scrounging.
hoo flung dung wrote:
the biggest one just took a huge pay rise in the county council, did'nt he???
It must be a real problem for the pest squad to keep those in office under control.
It's anoying when they try to justify their existance by scrounging.
Posted by: q'aaarg on 8:30pm Sat 19 Jul 08
My earlier comment got deleted? Why? Bunch of ar[bold][/bold]seholes at the Echo. It was in no way out of order, whatsoever. ****
My earlier comment got deleted? Why? Bunch of ar
seholes at the Echo. It was in no way out of order, whatsoever. ****
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
