Sightings of “demented pigeon-hunting rats” on Camberwell Green have prompted an exasperated local resident to set up an anti-rat Instagram account.
The anonymous admin that runs @CamberwellGreenRats says the green off Camberwell New Road has been “surrendered to the rats” and is lobbying Southwark Council to take action.
In one post, they write: “I’ve been spending my days conspiring against the rats and the majority of my evenings trying to kick the rats to death – which I’m unfortunately nowhere near agile enough to do. Surely there’s a way @SouthwarkCouncil?”
The media storm began when BBC News International Editor and Camberwell local Jeremy Bowen tweeted a video of rats on the green.
Videos on @CamberwellGreenRats, which was set up weeks previously, show rats chasing pigeons, pulsating in bin bags, eating food and scurrying across the park.
The account owner, who says their recycling bins back out onto the green, said: “As you can imagine taking out the recycling is terrifying. Always swarms of rats around here around the overflowing bin bags. When will my neighbours get an adequate bin facility @southwarkcouncil?”
In one clip, the person recording mistakes a rat in a bin bag for a cat and screams when it scurries out of the bin liner.
Describing the rats as “incredibly brazen and unintimidated by humans”, the account owner believes the rats may also be caused by people intentionally feeding them.
They wrote: “I would like to highlight this as I believe a lot of twitter users, Jeremy Bowen included, believe the rat issue has been caused by people feeding the birds/squirrels whereas it is actually being encouraged intentionally.
“I think locals should be informed of this so they can look out for this individual if the individual proceeds to feed the rats.”
In a statement given to the Evening Standard Southwark Council said: “We’ve had no complaints from elsewhere that we are aware of for this site, and of course rats have always been a London-wide problem, but we will look into it as soon as possible. Our teams can look for any food sources or waste that can be controlled nearby.”
However, the Instagram account has been tagging Southwark Council in posts for several weeks, although the owner accepts it may not monitor Instagram closely.