People living in St Ann’s have spoken out about a problem with rats in the area saying that people feed them who treat them as 'little gods'. One person even said they found rat droppings on their doorstep.
There have been complaints to Nottingham City Council about people on Abbotsford Drive feeding rats and birds, although the council say there have not been any recent complaints to them. Feeding the animals is inevitably causing them to come back.
Images of a dead rat found outside of Merleen Lydsney’s home were shown to Nottinghamshire Live. Merleen, 57 has also come across foxes and is aware that birds in the bushes of her garden have been breeding there.
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Merleen told Nottinghamshire Live: “My vegetables I have been growing in my garden have been destroyed and eaten by the rats. I have found rats dropping on my doorstep.
“It’s that bad, pest control are needed at this point to get rid of the rats.”
Merleen has previously complained to the City Council about the issue. Merleen, who works shifts, continued and said: “The bushes are so overgrown we are no longer able to see our cars parked or moving traffic on the street nor can I or other residents who park on the bridge and street be able to get in and out of their cars properly due to overgrowth.”
The pathway to Merlene’s house is overgrown. She says this is “hazardous.”
Merlene continued: “There are huge amounts of rubbish that have accumulated in the bushes too, I'm afraid if we have another winter with these bushes it’s going to make it increasingly uninviting and potentially dangerous to walk down our pathway with early, dark mornings and nights.”
Cynthia James, 59 also lives on Abbotsford Drive. The community worker also works in security and has helped a previous St Ann’s resident with similar issues to Merleen.
Cynthia has also seen people and heard of them feeding rats in the area. The community worker said: “Some people feed them because they see the rats as little gods.
“It boils down to lack of education because in some cultures, people feed rats which is fine but it shouldn’t be done around here or anywhere else near people’s homes.”
Cynthia said that a possible solution would be leafleting in the area to try and stop people feeding the animals. Cynthia continued and said: “Because it can sometimes be a cultural thing, people don’t want to confront others [about feeding the rats] because they don’t want to come across racist but educating others needs to be done to stop it from happening in the area.”
Marvin Dean, 48 had heard one of his neighbours talking about a rat problem in the area. The carer told Nottinghamshire Live: “I have heard that there’s rats somewhere on this street and it needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later.”
Marvin who has lived in different parts of St Ann’s all his life continued and said: “No one wants to live amongst rats, keeping our streets clean and free of them should be priority.”
Nottingham City Council said they they hadn't received reports of rats on Abbotsford Drive in more than two years. A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “If someone wishes to highlight an issue in their neighbourhood, including litter, they can do so at www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/reportantisocial and we will look into it as soon as possible.”
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