Rats in Finsbury Park

nacholibre

Has anyone else noticed the number of large brown rats scampering around finsbury park in the middle of the day? I see them almost every morning on my way to the station scurrying around the shrubbery on the side of the park next to the tennis courts. They totally freak me out. There are also some suspicious large holes dug in the soil right behind the bins by the cycling section which I assume they live in. I'm not sure why the council hasn't done something about it. Or maybe the cold weather will kill them off.

yagamuffin

My girlfriend keeps pet rats, gorgeous little creatures. What exactly do you want the council to do about these wild ones?<div><br></div>

Four Eyes

There have always been rats scampering around the park especially around the boating lake and down by the New River. I'm not sure what Haringey could do about them in such a big open space. I'm terrified of rats so it freaks me out when I see them too! And no the cold weather doesn't kill them off. They're hardy little (or big) feckers.

miss annie

<p>I've never seen a rat in London! Perhaps I walk around with rose tinted blinkers on.</p>

Four Eyes

<P>Never seen a rat Miss Annie! I must have seen hundreds. Maybe I hang about in much less salubrious places than you do? (don't reply by saying the White Lion. I've never seen a rat in there. Plenty of mice, but no rats). </P>

miss annie

No, never! Mice, squirrels, foxes and birds are the only woodland creatures that I see. I saw a fox in Soho at about 5am the other morning.

nacholibre

<P>Yagamuffin, I think the council have some sort of baiting team, although they obviously haven't done anything about it in the park of late. The council people came down my road last spring when a neighbour reported some rat sightings in their house and garden.</P> <P>Four Eyes, I hope it snows hard soon and they all freeze to death. It's the wormy tails which scare me most.</P> <P> </P>

rainbow_carnage

@miss annie - if you stand by the cab office opposite the station, you're bound to see one or two rats scurrying by the fence. They're the size of domestic cats.<br>

miss annie

I don't ever want to see them. Rats will not do.

yagamuffin

Oh my. So what about the deer and foxes? Should the council be killing them too? And the homeless people? What about them?

Idoru

@miss annie, what were you doing in Soho at 5am? Is there a side to you we're yet to experience?<br>

miss annie

No, I was on my way home from doing Harrods Christmas windows and fancied a bit of a stroll. I love Soho at that time, it's that magical time when the last of the night owls have left and the daytime folk haven't yet arrived and you feel a bit of the history of the place.

nacholibre

<P>If I'm not mistaken but deer and fox (and the homeless) aren't classified legally as vermin. Even if foxes get mange from time to time...</P>

yagamuffin

I don't think there is any reference to 'vermin' at all in UK law. And yes, some people do refer to deer and foxes as vermin if they are destroying their crops or eating their livestock.

miss annie

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nacholibre

<P>I think you'll find that rats and mice are referred to as small ground vermin in UK legislation.</P>

Jenowl

miss annie, you are lucky your cat doesn't bring you ratty presents. Our cat methodically killed off a whole family of rats from over the road earlier this year, leaving one each morning on the lawn for us to find. One of them was headless.<br>

miss annie

A couple of large cats and a family of foxes also use the garden so I imagine that debris would be either eaten, or so comprehensively mauled as to make it impossible to tell whether it was a rat or a pterodactyl. Beetroot has only just mastered catching flies though, so imagine that rats are some way off.

ChangN4N6

These rats are vermin and carry diseases. They should not be allowed in Stroudgreen. In finchley one attacked a baby two years agoI would get the council to kill em quick. Don't be sentimental about rats . As a vet I have seen the damage they do even to young dogs and elderly cats. As I said we should not let them come into Stroud green. Chang

Idoru

I suggest you set up checkpoints at the borders.<br>

yagamuffin

Damn rats, coming here, eating our babies.

ChangN4N6

I think pizza's are more on there muenu's so I hope all these new restaurants don't tempt them down from the park burrows to stroud green. Very important to put away any take away food in a metal bin. Chang

yagamuffin

Exactly @ChangeN4N6 the rats and foxes are here because we invite them. If people didn't leave there rubbish everywhere there would be nearly as much 'vermin'.

miss annie

<p>Sorry, this is really pedantic but it's a pet hate of mine - 'their' not 'there'. </p><p>I fully expect a barrage of comments for being petty enough to point it out.</p>

yagamuffin

Oops sorry. 

ChangN4N6

Soz bro. Chang.