Super rats 'traumatising' man in Birmingham

Birmingham man traumatised by super rats

A Birmingham man has told how 'super rats' living in his next door neighbour's garden are giving him nightmares.

Dean Buckler, 23, a catering sales manager, says dozens of rats'the size of kittens' are infesting the garden, and even caught footage of them on his mobile phone.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, Dean said: "I bought the house back in July and soon I started to realise that the neighbour was throwing quite a lot of food out.

"I thought it would cause rats. I had the day off work and I looked out the window and he was there feeding all the rats, and I said to the council, 'can you sort your tenant out?'

"They're about 40cm long. They're super rats. They're about the size of a kitten.

"It's disgusting what's going on. I saw 26 rats at peak time."

Dean said the rats are causing him financial and health problems. He is suffering with anxiety and the says the value of his house has dropped as a result.

He told the Mirror: "I'm so stressed I'm considering talking with my doctor.

"You start to have nightmares of a rat joining you in bed.

"You work so hard to obtain a house of your own, just to dread coming home because of your neighbours."

He added: "My poor house has been devalued by £10,000 in nine months. I may be forced to sell because of this.

"My house was £86,500 when I bought it. It has gone down in value, it's about £77,000 now and that's with £6,000 of work I have done to it."

Birmingham City Council said the issue should be sorted this week as pest control will be laying down bait on Friday.

In late February, a large rat was spotted in a North London garden watching the resident through a back door window - leaving her too scared to go outside.

The creature - estimated to be between 16 and 18 inches - was seen sniffing around the Belsize Park-based address before having a look inside the kitchen.

Resident Sam Firth, who snapped pictures of it, said: "It was bizarre, I was sat having a cup of tea when I spotted the rat staring back at me. I'm afraid to venture outside, the gigantic rodent had no fear."

And in early February, it was reported that a rat measuring 20 inches was found in Swindon, the largest ever rat found in the city.