Have your say

Rats, wasps and saving the NHS

Many of your features express the delights of wildlife in the garden and rightly so, however, while recent issues have debated the delights or otherwise of foxes in the garden, rodents such as rats never seem to get a mention. Where there are popular feathery, furry or prickly creatures, there will also be rats; indeed, they are especially fond of compost heaps. We garden organically and never use pesticides or rat/ mouse killers. We accept that the occasional rat streaks by and that field mice hop around the hedges. However, it is thought that the trend to recycle organic waste has led to an increase in rodent populations. I think this is an issue that you should tackle, as you stress the advantages of organic- and pesticide-free gardening. What safe and humane methods are there to remove rats? Jessica Munns, Gloucs

We say Sadly rats can cause a problem in the garden and be difficult to tackle humanely. Traps and poison bait are usually the only option or call in pestcontrol as a last resort.