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WATCH: Expert says rats are 'breeding freely' in Birmingham as bin strikes continue
Apr 24, 2025
A pest control expert has warned that rats "breeding freely" amid Birmingham's ongoing bin strike could spread potentially "fatal diseases" to residents.The bin strike in Birmingham has now entered its seventh full week, with thousands of tonnes of rubbish left uncollected across England's second largest city.READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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0:00
You're certainly right to say that the urine is an issue
0:04
There's a disease called Vals disease, a type of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that is spreading their urine
0:11
And yes, they can spread the urine far and wide. And if anything is wet, any of the rubbish is wet
0:17
then handle it only with gloves, I would recommend, because the bacteria can be picked up on your hands
0:24
and you can then spread it to food you're eating or touch your lips
0:28
or if it gets in through a cut, then it can give you the disease
0:32
the disease, which can affect you very badly, and it can be fatal
0:38
So that is a key disease risk. But there are other diseases that they spread as well
0:43
the likes of salmonella and hantavirus and things. So, yeah, in their droppings, those will be full of other bacteria
0:52
So any contamination of your hands or, you know, if they get into buildings
0:57
then that is a serious health risk. Because isn't it hunter virus
1:02
Isn't that what they think Gene Hackman's wife died of? And isn't that sort of airborne as well
1:08
Yes, yes, that's more airborne. That is from dried droppings. So with the hot weather we've been having, the droppings dry out
1:17
It's possible that the virus can be given off airborne if indeed those rats in that area have got hunter virus
1:24
so that is a possible problem as well. Is there a way of sort of stopping this
1:31
Because once you get an outbreak of rats, it's very difficult to actually get rid of them
1:36
Do Birmingham have much chance in kind of stopping this from getting a lot worse It going to be a phenomenal problem now to get rid of the rats once they got established They need three things to live They need a harbour somewhere to live some shelter
1:53
They need the food and they need a water supply. And at the moment, they've got all that
1:58
So they'll be breeding freely. They'll be rapidly expanding in number because they do breed very quickly
2:04
very short gestation period and a short turnaround of generations. and so the numbers will be getting out of hand
2:11
and they will then, as was correctly stated a few minutes ago
2:17
if the rubbish is finally moved, they will move into people's houses
2:21
They'll find ways in through holes and folks in the houses and they'll start stealing food wherever they can
2:30
and so they will cause further problems, not just from spreading diseases
2:36
but the likes of fire risks from chewing electric cables because they do need to gnaw to keep their teeth far down
2:43
Oh, really? That's why they do it. And very briefly, because we're running out of time, is there anything that the people of Birmingham
2:48
or anyone who has a rat infestation around them can do to keep themselves safe
2:54
Absolutely. They need to call a pest controller to get them to come and put some controls down
3:01
And I would advise that if they've got rats in the vicinity, that they're extremely careful with their hygiene
3:06
They wash their hands regularly. They wear waterproof gloves if they're handling anything
3:11
that might have got wet contamination. They're very careful not to contaminate any of the food they're eating, etc
3:21
So, yes, there's certain things they can do, but also try and keep the litter covered wherever they possibly can
3:29
so that the rats can't access any food that's in it
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