Park appeal as food mess attracts rats
Reporter: KAREN DOHERTY
Date published: 22 January 2009
PEOPLE dumping carrier and bin bags full of bread and food waste at the duck pond in Alexandra Park are causing environmental problems.
Park staff are urging them to stop after an increase in rat sightings and complaints about the mess caused by geese droppings.
Lyn Moulten (50), of Cherry Tree Gardens estate, has stopped using the park and said: “Women walk through the park with big bags full of food waste.
“Some have two or three carrier bags, others have black bin bags full of food.
“The majority of it is bread but I have seen them with vegetable waste and other food.
“All the food is attracting Canada geese. No one is objecting to having a few geese in the park but we are literally overrun by them. You can’t walk on the paths without treading on the mess.
“I used to take my five-year-old grandson and my two dogs to the park. I just can’t go anymore, it is horrendous.
“I have considered taking a couple of ladies’ bowling teams to Alexandra Park from Tameside. But with all this going on, some of the ladies object to going there. It is a pity because it is a beautiful venue.”
She branded it fly tipping and has tackled some of the culprits, adding: “I asked them ‘would you throw this amount of food in your own garden? Why are you throwing it here?’ It makes such a mess.”
Oldham’s parks boss Steve Smith said the food was attracting vermin and that staff had been asking people to stop leaving large quantities.
He explained: “We do not mind people coming in to feed a couple of slices of bread to the ducks and geese because that’s what people do, they bring the children.
“What we have had is people coming in and dumping lots of food. I spoke to one women who had a bag full of stale loaves.
“They might think they are being kind to the geese but they are causing a lot of problems in the park.”
