A rat catcher has warned rodents are "getting bigger and bolder" - and he once caught one which was bigger than a dog. Former military man Kieran Sampler has dealt with 50,000 rodents in his career as a pest controller.
The ex-Lance Bombardier Kieran one caught a rat which measured 22 inches head-to-tail, double the size of a chihuahua's body and bigger than a Yorkshire terrier. And the 29-year-old says most rats he catches now measure in at 18 inches long.
He explained: "Rats are getting bigger, bolder and more brazen. They're less bothered about humans, cats, or anything." The Mirror reports the dad, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, says more food waste on the streets and less pest control during the pandemic has emboldened the rats.
Kieran said rats can be devious, after studying their behaviour for seven years. He told how clever rats will adapt their behaviour, like waking up early in the day to find a good food source, making them very unpredictable.
Kieran said: "Rats are used to detect mines in Cambodia, they're very smart animals. Say you've got two Easter eggs, one is Cadbury's and the other is Lindt. They'll go for the Lindt. Honestly! You'd have to see it to believe it."
Kieran spoke about a particularly crafty rat which kept targeting the same disused car to file down its teeth - despite it being moved hundreds of metres each time.
The dad has trained up his two dogs, terriers Poppy and Penny, to catch the rodents and since 2018 he has been ridding homes and farms of rats.
Kieran runs 'Vermicure Pest Control' and set up the Facebook page 'Yorkshire Rat Pack', a collective of pest controllers across the county, who share jobs and help each other out.
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
He says the biggest infestation he's discovered was in a house plagued by 22 rats. It was a three-bedroom house in Batley and they ran across his feet when he entered.
He spoke about another job when a woman had removed her toilet but hadn't capped the hole off and rats were going back and forth from the sewer into the house, freely.
But the biggest infestation he came across was after a new farmer in Hull contacted him. He'd taken over a farm where a lot of corn had been left to rot by the previous owners.
He explained: "There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of rats! Maybe thousands." After cleaning the area, they returned with their terriers a couple of weeks later and caught about 250 rats, as most of the population had moved away by that time.
Kieran said: "When you become a pest controller, it's completely different to hunting. You've got to respect the animals. With rats, they're very intelligent things. There's a big difference between killing stuff and controlling stuff."
Top news stories today
But as a result of his work he's had death threats and abuse targeting him and his four-year-old daughter. He said: "Do I want to kill every rat in the world? No! That's not my job. The aim is just to reduce the population so it's manageable.
"If they're in fields or something like that, I'm not bothered. Everything has got to live. A lot of times, in farms and houses, you just have to reduce the food source. You don't have to kill them."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
