The Rat King is dead! An 18-inch rodent “the size of a small dog” is killed by a pub boss after seven years of agony
- Derek Blamire, 82, and his wife are in a constant war with rats invading his home
- The Blackburn pensioner said he caught 50 of the bugs in seven years
- Ex pub proprietor Derek says the creatures from nearby land flock to his garden
- In his last shot, Derek holds the 18-inch rodent in a photo of his wife
- Is your home being plagued by mega rats? Email to tom.cotterill@mailonline.co.uk
A great-grandfather at war with giant rats plaguing his yard has claimed to have caught an 18-inch rodent the size of a small dog.
For the past seven years, retiree Derek Blamire has been embroiled in a constant battle with the bugs that invade his garden to feast on his bird feeders.
So far, the 82-year-old has caught 50 rodents in poisoned traps, with his latest find occurring last month.
Derek’s wife Sylvia Blamire, 80, took a picture of the creature being held up by her 6ft 1in husband.
Whopper: 6ft 1in Derek Blamire holds up the 18 inch rat with a pair of garbage collectors. Derek, 82, has been fighting the rats that plague his garden in Blackburn for seven years
“He was quite large, about 18 inches long from nose to tail. It was as long as a little baby,” said Derek from Blackburn, Lancashire.
‘There’s been a knock for a couple of weeks.
Have rats got into your house?
Are you at war with giant rats invading your home? If so, email tom.cotterill@mailonline.co.uk
“I’ve lived here for about seven years and have caught over 50. Sometimes I poison them, sometimes I catch them in a trap.
“If they keep coming, I’ll keep catching them. I will not give up.’
Undeterred, Sylvia said she was “terrified” of Derek’s latest capture. She added: “I was in the bungalow and Derek was outside, I thought he must have been in the garden.
“He said, ‘Come out with your phone, I have something to show you.’ When I opened the door, he was standing on the doorstep, garbage collector in hand. It scared me to death.’
Derek, an avid gardener, said he thinks the rats that live in the open space next to his garden are attracted to the food he puts out for the birds.
The pensioner said: “I feed the birds you see and if you feed the birds it’s obvious rats will appear. There are probably more rats than people.
The retired pub manager claims to have killed at least 50 of the rodents terrorizing his garden. Pictured is one of the creatures
Derek says the rats come to feed at his bird feeder and invade his yard from nearby land
“I put seeds and fat balls out for the birds. It attracts all kinds of birds – jackdaws, starlings, magpies, sparrows, robins and wrens.
“Rats breed pretty quickly. There are small ones, the young ones, and the older ones.
“The young ones are pretty easy to catch, but the older ones are really smart, they don’t fall into the trap and they don’t eat the poison, so you’re lucky if you catch one.
“The rats don’t bother me because I’m used to them, Sylvia doesn’t like them.”
Derek eventually becomes involved in a drawn-out game of cat and mouse, setting traps for the critters to scurry into, but the older, smarter ones avoid it, opting instead to feed at the bird table.
To address this issue, Derek temporarily stopped feeding the birds to lure the hungry into his trap.
He said: “I see the rats on the feeding table, they can climb anything, they are fast too. As soon as you see them, they’re gone.
“I stop feeding the birds for a week so the rats are a bit hungry and easier to catch.
“I hadn’t put any food out for the birds for a week, they were hungry so after I put some cooked chicken in them they went into the trap.
“I had a pellet gun and I fired a shot at it and that was it.
“I haven’t seen any in a few days, but they’ll be back. They could disappear for a few weeks and then suddenly come back.’
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