Rats infest Edinburgh, but it's not all down to Covid - Helen Martin

Michael Jackson sang the song “Ben” for the movie based on how a rat became a young boy’s pal. Not as bizarre as some people might have thought, because tamed rats are sweet, and very clever.

Edinburgh has been hailed the rat-infested Capital

When my son was a young lad, Edinburgh Zoo had a wee animal session allowing kids to cuddle the creatures.

Wild rats are different of course, many living away from people, in sewers. And yes, they can be harmful, infectious and damaging. No-one wants them in their house, in a shop, in a restaurant, or visibly running around during the day.

Edinburgh has now been rated as the most-infested rat city in Scotland. And apparently some people are putting that down to Covid-19 restrictions with vacant premises, more food litter, and fewer humans concentrated in the city. That is just part of it.

Here’s the reality. We’re all only a couple of metres away from a rat, it’s said. And our gardens, roads, and buildings have bits of sewage systems below. They also live in old, deserted buildings, cavity walls and attics.

Edinburgh has lots of construction underway that involves noisy machine digging, whether that’s for demolition, providing building foundations, creating tram routes, even road works and pavement extensions. I’m not blaming any of that work. But the noise, vibration and invasion of the diggers certainly scatters the rats to find a safer nest. That happened quite recently with reconstruction in the Granton-Newhaven area having a “mischief” (group of rats) running round a school playground. So, it’s not all down to the pandemic.