Calls grow for London to get a New York-style 'rat czar' to stop the city ... trends now
Calls have been made for London to get a New-York style 'rat czar' to stop the city becoming overwhelmed by 'super rats' that feast on fatbergs in the city's sewers.
Pest control experts, politicians and homeowners have today called for London to adopt a similar policy to New York, by employing someone to deal with its growing rat problem.
It comes after former elementary school teacher Kathleen Corradi was announced as the first-ever Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation in April, a position previously dubbed by New York's Mayor as 'rat czar'.
The 34-year-old rat-catcher has had a passion for eliminating vermin since she was just 10-years-old and will lead a team of rodent experts to deal with city's critical rat problem. Sightings doubled in the last year, according to city data.
Pest expert Mark Moseley, who was a candidate on The Apprentice in 2023, said he supported the idea of having a person dedicated to tackling the issue in the UK's capital.
He told MailOnline: 'I do think it's a good idea to have someone appointed to specifically look at the problem and try and collect data from companies — councils in particular — and see what the correlation is.
'Why are certain areas get more rats? Is it to do with more people living there, or maybe there's less bin collections, so on and so forth. And they will sort of work it out.'
A pack of rodents were spotted by a resident on New Road in Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets on who posted the footage on TikTok
New York City has hired rat-catcher Kathleen Corradi (pictured right) for $155,000-a-year to tackle the growing issue
Mark Moseley, who pitched his pest control expertise to Lord Sugar on last year's Apprentice, said he supports hte idea of a 'rat czar' who could help tackle the issue
Initially, a group of six or seven rats can be seen scurrying around on the pavement. However, the camera then zooms out and pans over to the dumpsters to reveal dozens more of the creatures
Lockdown forced more rats to hunt for food in residential areas, where they have been encouraged to stay because of plentiful food waste and access to bird feeders in gardens.
Mr Moseley added: 'We know that rats are getting bigger because they're eating what we're eating.
'We as humans are eating fatty, sugary foods, the things that we don't eat our Saturday night take away, rats are consuming.
'It's always going to be ongoing. They say there's one rat every square metre of sewer line.
'We've seen rats that are actually that big that they've blocked the sewer line. And people have to come out
