Using poison bait to target rodents residing in burrows on a popular County Down beach is a “last resort”, an Ards and North Down Borough Council official has said.
Gareth Kinnear said the numbers of rats at Millisle Beach now means action will be taken.
One resident said the rodents have been spotted running about on the beach, and that action needed to be taken urgently to address the issue.
Members of the public have been warned about the pest control programme, which began on Thursday and is due to run for two to three weeks.
Signage has been put in place on the beach to advise the public and council officers will be visiting the site over the coming days to engage with beach users.
‘Feeding off’ rubbish
Tracy Carson is from the village, and is part of a community group helping to clear the beach and main footpath of weeds over the last number of weeks.
She said the vegetation growing along the shore has not been cut back since 2019, attracting litter and giving the rodents somewhere to hide.
“It’s a seaside village and our beach was always beautiful and attracted a lot of tourists but to come down and sit amongst this [the weeds], and the rats are just running freely,” she told News NI.
She said more needs to be done to keep the beach free from plants growing, and bins emptied more often to keep the rats away.
“The rats are hiding in there, and then they’re just running back and forward and they’re feeding off it,” Ms Carson added.
The council is advising the public to keep all pets on leads and under strict control at all times, on all parts of the beach.
People are also being asked to have children supervised at all times, to take food waste away with them and not to feed the birds.
The council said that in the case of accidental poisoning, people should contact an emergency department as soon as possible.
In the case of accidental poisoning of pets, people are being advised to contact their vet.
