Thrown-out food and new housing developments are being blamed for rats getting "bigger and bigger" after a 22-inch (55cm) long rodent was found in a house. It was discovered in Normanby near Middlesbrough and residents said an increase in vermin was being made worse by new housing projects forcing them out of their habitats.

Exterminators discovered a nearly 2-foot-long gargantuan rat inside an English home, and officials are warning the cat-sized rodent is “not a one-off” but part of an increasingly out-of-control infestation in the area,