This is the stomach-churning sight greeting visitors in broad daylight on a busy Paisley street.
The dead rat was spotted mid-morning lying outside a row of shops and takeaways on Paisley High Street.
A disgusted passer-by told the Paisley Daily Express she lives and works in the area and said the rats problem has been getting worse over the last few months.
She said: “The rat was lying there by the row of bins. I didn’t see it earlier when I walked to work so it’s died there mid-morning. It’s absolutely disgusting.
“I live and work in the area and it’s getting worse. I stay in a tenement and I don’t even use the back court any more because of the number of rats.
“You used to only see them at night but now you see them more and more during the day. I’ve seen them running across the road in the West End of Paisley and in the car park behind Leisureland.”
The woman said the fact the rat was just yards from where Paisley Museum is currently undergoing a multi-million-pound renovation made it worse. But that everyone needs to play their part to keep the town clean.
She said: “The council is spending millions doing up Paisley Museum and trying to attract visitors to this part of Paisley and this is what they see. You just want your town to be clean and nice.
“I think the council need to take an element of responsibility to try to exterminate the problem.
“But households and businesses need to take some responsibility too. They need to make sure refuse is secure so that seagulls and rats can’t get into it.
“One often leads to the other.”
A spokesman for Renfrewshire Council said they hadn’t seen any evidence of a growing rat problem in the area.
He said: “The number of calls from the Paisley west end area to our pest control service in recent weeks are not higher than normal.
“Where complaints are made regarding pests and rodents, the area is visited as soon as possible, and an appropriate course of treatment is undertaken by a pest control officer to deal with the situation.
“If any resident has concerns with vermin in their property or area, they should contact the council’s pest control service on 0300 300 0380 who will arrange to visit.
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“As general advice, we would remind all residents and businesses to make sure their waste is binned correctly as this will help stop encouraging any rodents.”
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