“There is definitely something in it,” he says, kicking an overflowing dumpster. “Rats are like little survival machines; wherever you get reliable access to food waste, they keep coming back.”
Coates’ prey has become more conspicuous in London the longer England’s lockdown continues.
Moreover, the animals are on the move.
Pest control officials say that as many restaurants and office buildings in London’s bustling city center remain empty, rats are being forced to migrate to more residential areas in search of food.
Families who spend more time at home – and eat all of their meals there – have led to an increase in waste, and that lures rats into suburban homes. Meanwhile, bird feeders – which are replenished all winter – encourage rodents to nest in backyards.
“We had a case of an old lady feeding her beloved robins,” Coates told CNN. “By the time she called us, maybe 10-15 rats were digging around the flower beds,” he adds.
Paul Claydon, another exterminator based on the edge of Epping Forest in the east of the capital, has seen worse. He says he recently killed a colony that tried to dig into a rabbit hutch to eat an unsuspecting family pet.
“We may see and hear them more often while working from home in the office under the attic … but I fear London will be in for a big surprise when it reopens,” said Claydon. “Especially when companies and properties that did have a problem haven’t kept up with their pest control plans.”
Coates and Claydon have both left long careers in other areas to set up small businesses in what has become a booming industry.
Coates, a veteran of the Iraq War, founded his outfit five years ago and has since written an eBook called “War and Pest: From Basra to Bedbugs.”
Claydon worked in IT for a financial services company for 25 years before founding his company two years ago. “I wanted something that was recession-proof, and it’s relentlessly busy,” he says.
Claydon says he normally gets about 10 rodent calls a week, but during lockdown, it’s “easily 20 plus.”
The British Pest Control Association (BPCA), which represents 700 pest traps nationwide, said its members reported a 51% increase in rodent activity during the first lockdown, in the spring of 2020, and a 78% increase in November after a new lockdown. was brought in. They haven’t calculated any numbers for this year yet, but told CNN there were sightings, which poses a public health problem that many homeowners need to address on their own.
“We can now see rats where we wouldn’t normally be because they are so desperate,” said Natalie Bungay, of the BPCA. “Rats can chew through very hard materials such as soft metals and brick.”
When it comes to fighting rats, London doesn’t seem to have an overarching plan.
The mayor’s office told CNN that the London Council office was best placed to answer questions on the subject. But they said they are not collecting data on the matter as that is the job of each of the capital’s 32 boroughs.
However, a Richmond upon Thames council spokesman told CNN that it does not collect data on rats or provide pest control services.
In 2017, after a video of rats emerging from a flowerbed in the Harrow Ward went viral, conservatives in the Greater London Assembly (GLA) commissioned a report finding that more than 100 complaints were made to councils every day registered.
No one really knows how many rats there are in London, although some private exterminator investigations claim it could be as many as 20 million. According to the Office for National Statistics, there are likely more of them than the city’s nine million human residents, whose population growth is slowing.
Rats, meanwhile, can multiply quickly. Research by pest control company Rentokil, cited in the GLA report, claimed that just one breeding pair of rats can lead to the birth of about 1,250 in a year.
The size of rats is also increasing. Claydon claims it is not uncommon for him to catch a rat up to 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) these days. Many, he says, need stronger traps and more poison to kill.
Bungay says the best pest control starts with prevention. That means keeping all food scraps outside the home in suitable waste containers, storing food inside the home and checking that all vents are protected with steel mesh and cracks filled with steel and cement. The avid gardener should also be aware that compost piles attract rats, she says.
Residents of London are also becoming more accustomed to seeing their new neighbors and are alarmed by their audacity.
“I actually saw one coming right up to me as I walked,” said Jen Johnson, who lives in Tower Hamlets’s eastern neighborhood.
“I saw another running into an apartment building and I was screaming. I’ve lived in London for four years and have never seen anything like it,” she says. “They show up in places I thought were scenic. But now it’s like, oh there’s a giant rat. Oh great.”
Tower Hamlets, which does provide its residents with some free help with pests, told CNN that “our pest control team anecdotally received fewer calls during the pandemic.” However, a council spokesperson has provided no data to back up that claim and said it would keep no figures on the number of rats killed.
The city of Westminster, the Harrow area and the boroughs of Waltham Forest and Redbridge, both close to Epping Forest, did not respond with comment at the time of publication.
CNN’s Oscar Featherstone contributed to this report.