THERE WERE almost 200 call-outs to deal with rats in the Cowdenbeath area last year.

The local authority's pest control responded to a whopping 623 requests, 137 more calls than in the 2022-23 period.

These included 189 for rats, 142 for ants, 131 for mice and 62 for wasps with 37 callouts for issues with bees and nine calls about fleas.

A report to the Cowdenbeath area committee updated members on the work of the safer communities team.

There was a slight decrease in the number of stray dog reports – 23 compared to 24 last year. While 21 were found with microchips, only 14 had the correct details of their owners.

Eleven of the dogs were claimed or returned to their owner and the remaining 12 were passed to an animal charity for assessment prior to being rehomed.