Psycho seagulls and rats team up to spread disease in city's trash mountains (2025)

The massive piles of trash strewn across Birmingham's streets are set to keep growing as the rats and seagulls feasting off the waste are also growing and spreading disease

The psycho seagulls and super rats feeding off Birmingham's giant mountains of rubbish may be spreading disease as they team up in a city assault. The Midlands city has been swamped with rubbish since binmen went on an all-out strike on March 11.

There is no end in sight for the growing refuse sack mounds after dustmen "overwhelmingly" rejected a strike-ending deal with Birmingham City Council on Tuesday. With the trash building for more than five weeks, the rats and seagulls feasting on the rubbish have become supersized.

But the dangers these vermin pose to humans is not limited to physical threats, they are also known to spread disease through urine and bacteria. The most dangerous infection rats spread to humans is Weil's disease, which can be fatal in extreme cases.

The infection is spread in rat's urine and a person is usually infected when they swim in contaminated water with a cut or graze on the skin. Outbreaks are commonly recorded alongside major flooding.

Another potentially fatal disease is rate bite fever and – as its name suggests – is a bacterial infection spread when a rodent breaks a human's skin with their teeth. Both of these infections are easily treated but can be fatal if they are not dealt with.

The most stomach-churning infection spread by rats is Seoul hantavirus because of how it is spread – by inhaling fine sprays of rat urine and faeces. It was famously found to be what killed Gene Hackman's wife Betsy.

Seagulls also pose a risk of bacterial infection as they are known to pick up Salmonella and Campylobacter from waste dumps and then pass that infection onto humans. In one famous case, a bird spread the disease by pecking through a milk bottle.

Meanwhile, a Birmingham councillor has claimed supporters of striking bin workers are mass booking slots at tips so rubbish will pile up even higher. Liz Clements, who represents the city's Bournville & Cotteridge ward, has claimed the bin bandits are sabotaging the system to stop residents reducing the mounting pile of black bags lining the streets.

Council chiefs claim the ploy is designed to leave the city awash with rubbish to strengthen the binmen's negotiators’ hands during talks.

Recycling sites have brought in strict online booking rules in a bid to allow residents to get rid of their own rubbish during the bin strike gripping the city. Some tips have extended opening hours until 10pm.

Residents can only book two visits at a time no more than three days in advance of their slot. But locals have moaned they are struggling to find slots.

More than 21,000 tons of uncollected rubbish now line the streets - triggering a super rat invasion.

Liz said she blames the difficulty in finding bin-emptying slots on strike backers. She added: "I am telling residents that there has been obstructive block booking."

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