In praise of priest’s crusade

With Father Marc LydenSmith on the case we trust the city’s rats don’t have a prayer!

The clerygyman has launched a crusade to highlight what he thinks is a problem with vermin and scavenging seagulls that could hinder Sunderland’s City of Culture bid.

As he tells us today, his St Mary’s church has seen a rise in the number of rats in the vicinity.

“One night I counted nine in just 10 minutes,” he tells us.

A Sunderland Rats And Rodents page has been set up for people to post evidence of a rise in the rodent population.

The call for action from the parish priest follows a recent pest control survey which appears to back Father Lyden-Smith’s concerns. A study carried out by the British Pest Control Association that analysed the national demand for pest control, revealed that Sunderland was one of the worst places in the UK for call-outs to deal with rat sightings.

The report, released in June this year, covered the 2015-2016 financial year and the council has been quick to counter the claims, saying that rodent sightings have almost halved, according to their latest figures.

There may be some dispute over the figures and anecdotal evidence, but what is not in dispute is the cause of the problems of scavenging pests ... discarded rubbish.

Failure to properly dispose of food waste is the biggest cause of pest problems on our streets.

We would back the council’s call for people to take more care in getting rid of their rubbish.

In the meantime, we will watch the clergyman’s crusade against rats and rodents with great interest.

It’s certainly deserving of praise.