Fire leads to rats infesting houses
NEIGHBOURS of a former council store are calling for a Pied Piper to come to take away a plague of rats that have been invading homes since their former lodging was destroyed in a fire.
The rats appear to have been living in the buildings destroyed recently at the Millpark council depot in Oban.
Since then reports of rats roaming the streets looking for new places to nest have been made to The Oban Times, with many people shocked at the sheer number and size of the rodents.
It is understood Argyll and Bute Council officers have been inundated with calls from the area by people asking for help.
A spokesman for the British Pest Control Association said: ‘ Rats can inflict a great amount of structural damage.
‘ They can cause serious fires by gnawing away the insulation around electrical cables, floods by puncturing pipes and even death by chewing through gas pipes.
‘ The insurance sector has estimated that rodent damage to wiring is responsible for 25 per cent of all electrical fires in buildings.
‘Rats are adaptable, highly mobile and breed rapidly. This combination can make rat control a difficult task for the untrained individual.’
One resident, Margaret Smith of the Millpark area, said: ‘ For the first time ever in my life, I have seen big rats running about on the street during the day.
‘My neighbour said she opened her dishwasher last week and there was one sitting there bold as you like.
‘ This has all happened since the fire and it is a real problem. We need the Pied Piper or someone to come and help us.’
Another householder, who didn’t want to be named, said: ‘At night time you can hear them running about inside the walls of the house.
‘ We have put down poison and I am hoping that they will just go away and peacefully die.
‘ It is horrible to think that these beasts were living only a few hundred yards from the house. But I am told that anywhere people are there will be rats only a few feet away.’
A spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council said: ‘ If people have concerns about vermin they can phone the council’s pest control team on 01546 605514.’