Overview

• Pest controllers confirmed and humanely culled a 22-inch rat nesting above a boiler in a Normanby home, the largest ever recorded in the UK
• Eston ward councillors David Taylor and Stephen Martin have called for a comprehensive vermin survey and coordinated treatment plan across Redcar and Cleveland
• Redcar & Cleveland Council currently provides pest control only on council-owned land after discontinuing free domestic services two years ago
• Local pest controller David Parnell reports call-outs have risen from a couple per month to eight-to-ten per week, attributing rodent growth to sewer access and abundant high-fat waste
• Experts warn that ageing sewer infrastructure, poor waste management and restrictions on rodenticide use are fueling the borough’s worsening rodent crisis