nicked off the guardian's the northerner:
Across the Pennines, rats are running amok in the sewers of Yorkshire. According to the Yorkshire Post, Hull officials are levelling the blame at Yorkshire Water, which they say have failed to fulfil their responsibility to bait the rodents. Research by Hull Council has shown that since Yorkshire Water employed private contractors rather than the council to deal with the rat population, rodent numbers in Richmondshire, York, Doncaster and Sheffield as well as Hull have increased year-on-year. The council suggests that frequent change in contractor and half-hearted baiting measures are principally to blame for the swell in population.
"The method of hanging poison in plastic bags on string down the manholes is not very effective and is inflicting far fewer casualties on the rats than the former methods of its own staff," reported the Post. The Pied Piper was not available for comment.
i'm not aware that northern rat's are clever :D
as enscribed by the letter b @ October 23, 2004 03:01 PM