Flávia Gouveia
Today at 11:35
A disabled young woman said she was left ‘shocked and distressed’ after being bitten by a rat in broad day light outside a major shopping centre in Belfast city centre.
Alex Bull said she was unwell after the rat “took a chunk” out of her finger outside CastleCourt Shopping Centre.
Speaking on The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, she recounted the incident.
“I was meeting up with my friends just after class, because I was feeling a bit down,” she said.
"So we met up outside Castle Court and we were just outside Castle Court next to a wee telephone box and there was a rat in the telephone box.
“It ended up scurrying over to me, climbing up my wheelchair and then biting me in the hand.
“It was actually quite shocking, I didn’t know what to do. It was honestly really quite scary.”
She explained that the rat climbed up the wheel of her wheelchair and sat in her lap.
The young woman added that she put her hand down to block the rat as it tried to climb up, but said that despite her efforts the rat made it on to her wheelchair after some “crazy parkour”.
She added: “It was really, really quite scary, honestly. It actually was quite big, it was bigger than my hands, that's for sure.”
After climbing onto her wheelchair the rat sat on her lap and bit her finger.
She continued: "It took a chunk out of me. It's healing up well now, though. I didn't feel all that bad after the bite. I was very emotionally distressed. I was crying after it.
"I remember we called the medical services and we were like, 'What do we do, do we go to hospital?' They instructed us to go to hospital immediately."
She added that some time after the bite she was sick experiencing a high temperature and vomiting.
While in hospital she was given a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
She added: “A lot of us are immuno-compromised or have auto-immune diseases. I got quite sick after. I had to go to hospital afterwards.
"I’m thinking that if there are other people with mobility aids – I’ve heard that there is actually an increasing rat problem around Belfast within the daylight hours – and if they’re crawling up mobility aids then that puts disabled people at risk.
"Really I feel that like, really, it’s a public health issue.”
A Belfast City Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of this incident and appreciate the distress that this has caused.
“Council takes a proactive approach to pest control in the city. The vast majority of our service is focused on supporting domestic properties through advice and inspections.
“We also carry out a sewer baiting programme in the city, on behalf of NI Water, treating thousands of manholes each year. Teams of officers routinely provide advice and guidance to businesses on best environmental health practice.
“Social habits like littering and discarding food scraps can attract rats. This is something we actively discourage through our various anti-litter campaigns, and we would again remind residents to please dispose of all litter in the bins provided.”
by pickneyboy3000
21 comments
That is horrifying! Usually rats are more scared of us than we are of them, but this one had some notions on it!
mmm, lets hear the rats side o the story
I gave one a monster munch near castle court last week, I wonder if he’s got a taste for it now and he’s attacking people.
New fear unlocked
Cheers.
Why do people go to Nolan about anything? Imagine being bitten by a rat and thinking to yourself “Stephen Nolan needs to hear this”.
Well obviously I was thinking that’s terrible poor woman.
But she was doing her best to get me on team rat with crazy rat parkour.
>The young woman added that she put her hand down to block the rat as it tried to climb up, but said that despite her efforts the rat made it on to her wheelchair after some “crazy parkour”.
Belfast keeps going the way it’s going even the rats won’t go near it soon.
Tha reminds me i must hoover the crumbs from the sofa
https://preview.redd.it/p0ytkpzupfre1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef70ce1b4e81d41ec35de214fa020908b21c857a
Saw this big lad sitting outside Stradivarius in the city centre about 9am on way to work.
Aha sure hold on. Let’s just get multiple photos of it on my lap first.
Had the opportunity to take photos, but didn’t throw the rat off the woman?
I don’t believe this. That isn’t a street rat, it looks like a pet. And why would someone just stand there taking photos while someone was attacked by a rat?!
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What the fuck is Nolan going to do? Call on the executive for a mass extermination of rats?
I wonder what aul Splinter was getting up to these days
Fair play to himself.
Ah yes it must be the people’s fault. Never mind the fact the council leaves bags of rubbish on piles all around the city all day instead of disposing of them in a timely manner
Didn’t get bitten for nothing. What did she do?
Maybe she had sausage fingers.
A rat visits our garden now and again. There’s nowhere for it to shelter, so I assume it has set up digs in the neighbour’s shed. At first glance I thought it’s probably a bank vole because I live in a fairly rural area near the river. But no, too big, with a pointy muzzle. It came for the bird seed, trying to get into the feeder. They make me uncomfortable but then I remember they’re just native scavengers and do little harm for the most part.
> “I was meeting up with my friends just after class, because I was feeling a bit down,” she said.
> After climbing onto her wheelchair the rat sat on her lap and bit her finger.
Imagine feeling down about your day, planning to meet up with friends to try and improve your own self and well being and a rat goes “Fuck you in particular”.
I love how it says It happened in broad daylight.
As if the rat is somehow extra brazen for committing this terrible assault when there are clearly so many witnesses.
Only on Nolan would the sentience of a rat and his disregard for society’s norms and values be so heavily implied. Great stuff
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