A plague of rats “as big as kittens” yesterday sparked a call for a return to twice-weekly trash collection at the West End.

Janet Cann said, if once-a-week collection continued, residents in her area of Sound View Road in Sandys should stop putting out rubbish before the Monday pick-up day.

Ms Cann said: “I can see families of rats about 70 feet from my house.

“There must have been about 20 of them the other day up by Heathcote Hill.”

Ms Cann added that, despite reminders from Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, people had continued to put waste out in advance of trash truck visits.

She said: “People are bringing their garbage down before Mondays and we get people who don’t even know the neighbourhood dropping their trash here.”

Ms Cann, who runs a daycare centre at her home, said problems with vermin started before the reduced collection schedule, which was adopted in February and confirmed for the rest of the year in June.

Ms Cann added staff from the Department of Environmental Health had laid poison to control the rats since last year.

She said: “Now it’s getting worse.”

Ms Cann said that apart from live rats, which have attracted children, who throw rocks at them, rodents killed by poison created a smell.

She emphasised no rats had come on to her property, where she runs a daycare centre.

She added that she had started to keep the youngsters in her care indoors as a precaution.

Ms Cann added: “They need to pick up more trash. They talk about keeping it this way until the end of the year, but imagine what the trash will be like over Cup Match.”

She said: “I’m really looking out for the children with this — that’s my thing.”