A man was branded a pest by a sheriff for attracting rats to his garden and forcing neighbours to call environmental health.
John Walker appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court and admitted breaching an anti-social behaviour order which prohibited him from attracting birds or vermin to his home in Busbiehill Steading, Knockentiber.
Walker, 55, was issued with the order in March 2017. It banned him from feeding birds, attracting vermin or depositing food waste in anything other than a bin.
However, he breached the order on May 27 when he threw food out his window and attracted rats to the garden.
The prosecutor said Walker’s neighbours “observed rats running to and from their neighbour’s garden. They saw a number of birds flying into their neighbour’s garden.
“They looked outside the window and observed a quantity of bread in the garden and as such they contacted environmental health.
“Soon after they looked over the fence and observed the accused standing by his window, throwing handfulls of bread out the window and they contacted environmental health and the police.”
Police arrived at the property at 4pm and were shown footage of Walker, who was arrested.
Sheriff T Ward said: “This man is a pest. It looks to me as if he is causing all sorts of problems.”
Sentencing was deferred until next month for background reports to be prepared.
