An investigation is being launched into the scale of the rat population explosion in Wakefield.

The council will also assess how the district could cope with the potential rodent plague.

The British brown rat population is estimated now at somewhere around 60 million - one for every human being.

However, the reproduction capabilities of rats mean one breeding pair can produce a colony of an estimated 2000 in just a year.

Kidney failure

Scrutiny Committee chairman, Brian Holmes, said: "Rats can kill us - their urine can carry a water-borne bacteria causing liver or kidney failure.

"Though most of the pests induced into our homes by central heating and the chance of food are harmless, some, such as rats, are a danger to health and should be dealt with."

Discarded chips, burgers, kebabs and take-away pizzas are mainly to blame for the 29% increase in rat population recorded by the National Rodent Survey between 1998 and 2002.

The council's Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee wants to assess the situation in Wakefield and look at methods of breeding prevention rather than cure.