Littlemoor community litter pick hopes to help tackle rat infestation
Residents are urged to keep Littlemoor litter free
Residents in Littlemoor in Weymouth are being urged to join in with a community litter clean today to help tackle a recent surge in rat numbers in the area.
The litter pick starts at 11am today at the community hall.
It follows a surge in rat sightings in the area recently, and organisers say they want to send a message.
Tony A'Lee is organising the event. He told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:
"Annually, we do four litter picks a year to try to keep the area tidy.
"The way I see it, the more people we can educate into being litter free, the better. At the present moment there's quite a bit of litter around Littlemoor. What the problems are, we can't really put a finger on, but people discard food packaging, beer bottles, beer cans, there's broken glass around the estate - this all needs to be tidied up."
Tony says people keep messaging him complaining about the rat issue, and he's seen them too.
"In total I've had about 30 people with rat sightings inside of their properties.
"I was walking my dog and a rat just ran out of a garden and into the road, straight in front of me."
But Tony was eager to make sure Littlemoor doesn't get a bad name for the issue.
"Wherever you go, there's always rats and unfortunately at this present time, we can't put a finger on it as to why there was the increase in rats, it could have been the climate, it could have been people throwing out food in the pandemic, we don't really know.
"If you go to other areas in the town there's rats, it's not just Littlemoor."