Page Hall: The area of Sheffield where ‘foot long’ rats roam

Ex-resident Shaun Outram, 60, lived in Page Hall for the majority of his life but recently moved out of the area, largely due to the daily issues he had with rats in Page Hall.

“It was every day, and every kind - big ones, small ones - I’ve seen some about a foot long,” he says.

Shaun said the rodents were everywhere, and they certainly had no fear of humans.

“They wander the streets in broad daylight with no fear in them,” he explained.

Shaun says that at night when he let his dogs out, all he could hear was the squeaking of rats up and down the street. He also describes multiple rats left dead in the middle of the street.

Because of a knee replacement surgery, Shaun shared that at the time, he was at a high risk of death if exposed to bacterial infections.

“I was constantly on edge about being bitten by one of the rats because my dad lost his leg after a bacterial infection following the same surgery.”

Shaun also has two Jack Russel’s, Ozzie and Basil, who unsurprisingly made it their mission to hunt down the rats they shared their garden with.

He said: “Everyday they’d be dragging in a rat they caught, sometimes a couple - I’ve got photos of them with the blood all over their noses.”

This left Shaun with the task of having to dispose of the dead bodies. More worryingly, he feared the dogs could become infected or poisoned.

Sign up for newsletters from The Star

He explained that Sheffield Council often sent out dedicated rat exterminators, but the rodents had become immune to their methods.

He recalled two dedicated council rat exterminators that visited free of charge, leaving out bait stations with poison and rat traps. But often, when they returned no rats had been caught.

It left Shaun worrying about where the poisoned rats had ended up.

He said: “I love my babies to bits, I was terrified for their safety, that they’d get really ill from the rats or even poisoned.”

The rats are not exclusive to gardens, finding their way into homes too, according to Shaun.

He said he knew residents driven mad with the sound of rats scuttering inside the walls of their homes.

One, he recalled, had a cat that scratched through the wall trying to catch the rats inside. Another had them burrow into his greenhouse and destroy all his plants.

Shaun said: “There’s not one place they didn’t find their way into - I found them everywhere, from wooden drawers to eating my computer cables upstairs. One time I bought myself a nice tin of biscuits, and they found their way in and ate every last one before the day was out.”

Get The Star for less than a fiver with our new value subscription package

Shaun has his suspicions about why the area is so overridden with the vermin, including large amounts of rubbish and bin bags left on street corners.

“All the filth that is thrown out and not dealt with is what really attracts them, it’s giving them a lifeline,” he said.

He also estimates that 30 oer cebt of the houses in the area have unused outdoor toilets that provide tunnels the rats can travel through and live in.

“If those tunnels were filled in, it would make it harder for them to get around, and stay alive,” he argued.

Shaun said he recognises the efforts made by the city council to tackle the issue, but believes they need to go further to exterminate the pests once and for all.

He said: “The council does send out exterminators regularly, but they need to do more. One time, around five years ago, they did a really good job and it seemed like all the rats were gone. But after that, they relaxed on it, and within two months they flooded back. If they recreate that and maintain it, there might be some hope.”

In response, Sheffield City Council says it has inspected 323 rat hotspots, baiting 214 of these.

It has also allegedly carried out 198 inspections of outhouses and live drains, serving 29 legal notices.

Since January, Sheffield City Council says covert fly-tipping operations have led to eight offenders receiving fixed penalty notices, with eight temporary cameras installed to deter further fly-tipping.

A new scheme run with Fir Vale Community Hub will help residents dispose of bulky waste lawfully, with four local residents recruited to support the effort.

Have you got a story you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld at https://www.yourworld.net/submit/ It's free to use and, once checked, your story will appear on our website and, space allowing, in our newspapers.