'Rats the size of cats are invading our cities' - PHOTO

It is the size of a small cat and enough to strike fear into anyone who sees it – but it could become a common sight in cities around the country.This giant rat was caught and photographed in Liverpool and measured two feet long from its nose to its tail. The menacing super rat was caught on an industrial estate by a brave pest controller from Whelan Services, one of the country's largest independent pest prevention companies.Whelan Services has offices in London, Liverpool and Hampshire and all locations report a rise in the number of super rats spotted.Pest control experts today warned that similar rats are likely to become more common in the UK as more households get careless about how they throw out their rubbish, and discard left-over fast food.They also warn that the rodents are becoming increasingly resistant to poison. Experts say the conventional blood-thinning poison used to kill the rats is not working as it used to. Now pest controllers are calling on the government to tighten up its response to the monster-size vermin and asking the EU to approve stronger ‘third generation poison’ to kill them. Merseyside pest controller Sean Whelan from Whelan Services told Mail Online: ‘We’re seeing an upsurge in rat call-outs, it’s gone up significantly by about 15 per cent over the past year.‘The problem is that they’re feeding more than they used to. They’re feeding off leftover junk food that we throw away. ‘If there is vermin, 99.9 per cent of the time it’s our fault. We’re basically feeding them and they get used to it. So they keep coming around us to get more food,' he added.Mr Whelan said: ‘The rats that we’re seeing in the city used to be the ones roaming round  the countryside, in agriculture, out on farms, but they’ve migrated to towns – now they live in the city.Mr Whelan said the 'monster rats' are in every town throughout the country but there has been an increase in sightings in Liverpool, Birmingham and London. During the 1960s onwards, rat poison was based on the blood-thinning agent warfarin. It worked by draining the blood from the rat and killing it. Today, pest controllers use bromadiolone, but both are proving to be ineffective on some monster vermin.‘We find that the rats are becoming resistant to poison,' Mr whelan said. 'We used to use Warafin when I first started out 23 years ago. It was the first generation of rat poisoning and used to work but doesn't do much now.'We need new, stronger poisons as they've grown used to what we use.'The pest controller explained that in an area between Winchester and Salisbury the poisons simply do not work at all, while rats in London have also developed a higher immunity.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az