'I spent a day with Birmingham's monster rat catcher - this is what it was like'

Metro reporter Luke Alsford spent an afternoon with the rat catcher (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn / SelwynPics)

Most people walk around the giant mound of bin bags and flies on Poplar Road in Birmingham,but not William Timms.

The pest control expert heads straight towards the pile of rubbish and tells me straight away rats are nesting inside.

William is Birmingham’s ‘rat catcher’,trying to shoot down the city’s exploding rat population,which is feasting on over 22,000 tonnes of dumped rubbish.

As striking bin workers refused to end their industrial action on Monday,he fears rat infestations will only grow,as will the risk of deadly rat illnesses.

Rat catcher William Timms inspecting a mound of bin bags in Poplar Road,Birmingham (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

Metro accompanied William,47,on his daily pest control work,and it took only seconds for the pest controller to spot signs of rats in this pile-up.

He told Metro: ‘There a chew marks in the bag,you can tell by the teeth.

‘These chewed-up bones are perfect for rats. I can smell the urine as well.

‘A pile of bin bags like this would be a perfect harbourage for a rat nest if it’s been there a long time.’

Rats are active at night,munching on the rubbish and leftover food,and sleep during the day.

So William,who runs WJ Pest Solutions,is up all hours of the day catching the rodents.

He says he has killed 50 of the animals using snap traps since March alone,when the all-out strike began on 11 March.

He’s also taken down about 40 rats with an air rifle.

William holding up a 22 inch rat he caught in March (Picture: William Timms / SWNS)

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He has to let West Midlands Police know he’s about to use his .22 calibre air rifle to shoot at the rats,otherwise,people think he’s handling an actual gun.

Not long ago,he found himself being tackled and pinned to the ground by four armed response officers as he was out hunting rats.

Now he is ‘averaging 8 rat jobs a day’,and he says the rats are just getting bigger and bigger,and growing in number rapidly too.

He said: ‘Rats reproduce every three weeks. They are sexually mature when they’re two months old.

‘Every female pumps out six to twelve babies every three weeks.

‘There is loads of protein in the waste,which is why they grow bigger.

‘The biggest I have seen is 22 inches. I got it in someone’s loft. I caught it in a snap trap,and it was still alive,I had to put it out of its misery with a pistol shot.’

The chew marks in the bag are dead give aways that rats have been all over this mound of bin bags (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

Is the ballooning rat population a health risk for the city? Absolutely says William.

Rats can carry a rare infectious disease called hantavirus,which is what Gene Hackman battled before her shock death last month.

But the illness on everyone’s lips in Birmingham is leptospirosis,which is found in rat’s urine.

‘The health risk is diabolical,’ said William.

‘You have leptospirosis. There is going to be maggots all over the place. Flies carry disease too.’

Rubbish piled up at a joint student-GP bin (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

On Monday,striking workers voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to reject an offer from Birmingham Council to end their industrial action.

Unite the Union said the offer was rejected as it did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers,and branded it as  ‘totally inadequate’.

As the strikes continue,logistical experts from the army have been called in to help tackle the issue.

A giant rat the size of a small cat seen in Birmingham early this morning. (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

William fears the mounds of bin bags,and therefore rats,will only get worse this week as the strikes continue.

In particular the long festive weekend will only aggravate the pile ups,he says.

‘The Bank Holiday weekend will be unbelievable. They have already started piling rubbish back on streets again.’

‘I have seen settees,TV Stands and even barbed wire.’

There was even barbed wire on the side of the mound in Metro visited in Poplar Road,which was accompanied by a terrible stench and countless flies.

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Birmingham City Council have said it is on track to clear a backlog of uncollected waste by the weekend,with collections focusing on ‘the poorest parts’ of the city ‘affected the most’ by the ongoing bin strike.

Craig Cooper,strategic director of city operations,said he expected to be back to ‘one household collection every week’ for all Birmingham residents by the weekend.

Metro Reporter Luke Alsford next to more rubbish,and probably more rats,at Newlands Road in Birmingham (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

Even if the bin bags to disappear shortly,rats won’t go away,they might just end in people’s houses or elsewhere.

The rat catcher told Metro: ‘Even when it clears up,we’ll be busy for four months after.

‘That is because when the bin bags are cleared up the rats will disperse and end up in people’s houses.’

‘Most of the brown rats come from the sewers; that’s where they thrive.

‘That is why Birmingham has had such a big issue.

‘Loads of people have tried tackling rats for a month,and then they call me.

‘The baits you buy in the shops are really low. So you might as well just give them Smarties. We use stronger baits.’

Beyond the potential risk of disease and infestations,William says the biggest threat posed by rats is their chewing,which is constant.

Giant rats the size of ferrets and baby monkeys have been spotted in Birmingham (Picture: Greenlab Pestcontrol / SWNS)

Rats chew through cables,cars and anything in between.

William said: ‘A bloke’s jaguar was written off a few weeks ago.

‘They had gotten into the engine and into the cab. They are continually chewing.

‘Rats need to continue to chew,and they can sense the heat. If they don’t chew,their teeth curl,and then they can’t eat.’

Once William had inspected this bin bag mound on Poplar Road,he was off to deal with a cockroach infestation.

Despite the rat problem,William still finds time to deal with bed bugs,wasps,moles and arachnids.