Rats on Cox?s walk

[Adidas_guy]

Saw 6 rats at the A205 entrance to Cox?s walk earlier this afternoon...

Any suggestions as to who I should report this to?

[pablogrande]

you could email [email protected]

[Adidas_guy]

pablogrande Wrote:

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> you could email [email protected]

Thanks, but who is this person?

[Blah Blah]

Never going to be rid of rats there. There are rats all over London in fact, but woodland is perfect cover for them.

[creditwheredue]

Saw two in less than a minute behind the cafe in Dulwich Park yesterday.

[alice]

Natural rat habitat I would?ve thought.

[Nigello]

Rats are just as valid a life form as mice, wasps, sparrows, woodlice etc. If they?re in your home or in a commercial property they ought to be dealt with but in the wild, good luck to them.

[Blah Blah]

Agreed Nigello. Rats and mice are part of the environment. A problem if they are nesting in the walls and running around your kitchen for sure, but in the wild, they don't need to invade your home. Landowners will usually manage the ecology with natural predators.

[Blah Blah]

alice Wrote:

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> Natural rat habitat I would?ve thought.

Indeed. But they can be a problem on farms that keep livestock, because they can spread disease through animal feed. So farmers will manage any rat and mice population while keeping feed away from rat infestation. In natural habitat though, like woodland, there would be a natural ecology in play. In towns and cities, food is plentiful, so greater numbers of rat and mice population is to be expected. You just don't want them in your home.

[se22cat]

Saw about 5 big ol' rats running in and out of the back of Domino's Pizza the other day, won't be ordering from them again!

[Nigello]

That sounds bad - but then again, is it? Just because they are near to a property doesn't mean they are actually in it and/or affecting badly the produce and staff. I agree the optics are not good because we immediately associate rats with disease, etc. but if a rat expert/health and safety person can chime in to tell us whether proximity equals infestation/infection, please let us know. (I mean, there may well be thousands of woodlice or earwigs out back of any pizza shop, but is that in itself a cause for concernt?)

[Jules-and-Boo]

OMG. Nature!!!!!! How dare it show itself

[hpsaucey]

Jules-and-Boo Wrote:

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> OMG. Nature!!!!!! How dare it show itself

THIS👍👍👍👍👍

[rachp]

Probably coming from ED station, the place is absolutely teeming with them behind the fences... never seen anything like it....

[jazzer]

bit of a trek from ED station too cox's walk even for a rat!!

[rachp]

Yes, it would be! A mere hop skip and a jump to Domino?s though!

[Jules-and-Boo]

I hope you?re not suggesting that Dominos is rat infested. That?s a pretty steep accusation. There are lots of cafes around there and that is a wild area so it?s the most natural habitat.

[KidKruger]

The rats behind Dominos are a bit of a pain for the neighbouring houses because they frequent those gardens !

[rachp]

Just to be clear, someone on this post said they saw 5 rats coming from Domino?s. I have suggested they might be coming from the train station which was definitely infested with rats when I was there, probably due to several decades worth of rubbish that has built up behind the fences next to the platform.

[Jules-and-Boo]

I missed that post, sorry

[DuncanW]

Genuine question: if a suburban park like Peckham Rye or Dulwich Park is a natural habitat for rats, and they do no harm in being there, why does the council have traps out for them?

[Penguin68]

if a suburban park like Peckham Rye or Dulwich Park is a natural habitat for rats, and they do need harm in being there, why does the council have traps out for them?

Rats have a very poor reputation (sewer rats in particular) for hygiene - hence councils try to eradicate them even where they are actually simply 'wild-life' and probably doing no harm - although, having said that, they will take eggs from ground nesting birds - which means water fowl in many parks.

Councils will be blamed by the public if they are seen not to discourage rats in public places. So, easier all round to set traps.

[Blah Blah]

Rats can pose several problems on farms and around nesting sites. They can contaminate feed and water supplies and so if there are too many of them, the problems will follow. That is why there are rat control measures around the lake and nesting sites in parks. Farms go to good lengths to keep rats out of feed storage areas similarly. Bear in mind that rats can can spread any number of diseases and even through urine in water. Leptospirosis is a particularly nasty one. So like many things, it is a case of risk assessment, and taking sensible pest control measures, while not totally destroying the ecology. Rats and mice are part of that ecology lie everything else.

[Earl Aelfheah]

jazzer Wrote:

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> bit of a trek from ED station too cox's walk even

> for a rat!!

They can get a bus up Lordship Lane

[Countrlass22]

Please report to southwark Council rats are not wildlife

They will deal with but nest location would help.