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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Kelly-Ann Mills

Woman spots FORTY rats in squalid alleyway next door to her house as flytipping blamed

More than 30 rats have been spotted in an alleyway leaving residents disgusted and unable to solve the problem for weeks.

Lytisha Lynas has been living in the area of North Belfast for the last two years and said there was never a rodent problem until recently.

She said there has been a huge surge in fly-tipping, as well as sewage water flowing down the alley with weeds also overgrowing on the street.

Residents have approached Belfast City Council for four weeks but nothing has been done to solve the problem.

Lytisha told Belfast Live : "I've been contacting the council every day for a month, but nothing's been done.

Residents are upset (Justin Kernoghan)

"Last Tuesday, they said somebody would be out to collect the rubbish from the alley, but it's still sitting there.

"The rats seem to be coming from a neighbour's garage.

"We've been putting poison down near the garage every morning, afternoon, and evening, so I understand why we've caught 32 of them. But there's still more.

"Me and two other neighbours are putting up the money for poison because nobody else is doing it. We're getting fed up with it, the rats are massive."

The alleyway is plagued with rats (Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live)

Lytisha said the issue is now affecting her mental health on a daily basis as she's constantly concerned about the rats coming into her house.

She added: "I can't settle at night time, I can't even sleep.

"If I do get asleep I'm only getting about two hours because I'm scared in case they come in.

"Every noise I hear in my attic, I'm jumping. I don't want them in my house.

"I've had them in my garden, but I have two rat boxes with poison in them. I checked them on Saturday, and the poison is nearly gone from one of them but not the other."

Lytisha Lynas in an alleyway at the back of Woodvale Street, Belfast (Justin Kernoghan)

Neighbours in the area have had to take matters into their own hands over recent weeks to attempt to keep the issue at bay.

Lytisha said: "There's a guy who lives above the butchers and he had to come down with a litter picker and put the dead rats into his bin.

"It's just ridiculous. Nothing's being done and we're all at our wits end about what to do."

Belfast City Council has been contacted for comment.

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