Fears over ‘super rats’

A COUNCILLOR yesterday said she would ask her authority to investigate reports of giant rats invading an estate.

According to reports in The Sun, a 30-inch rodent was shot dead on the Ravenscliffe estate in Bradford, prompting fears that “super rats” from South America could be at large.

Carol Beardmore, who represents the Eccleshill ward for the Liberal Democrats on Bradford Council, played down suggestions that hundreds of giant rodents were plaguing the estate.

She said: “We are not the Pied Piper of Hamelin round here with hundreds of rats.

“However, I take it seriously and I will ask officers to investigate.”

The councillor said the estate is located close to a wood with streams running close by and there are issues with fly-tipping.

She also suggested the animal pictured in The Sun could be a coypu, a plant-eating semi-aquatic rodent originally native to South America.

Resident Brandon Goddard told The Sun how he killed the animal as he went “ratting” with friends on the edge of the estate.

He told the paper: “They were more like Ratzillas than rats. I got out of there as fast as I could. Who knows how many there will be if they’ve been breeding?”

He claimed four others of the same size scuttled away to safety.