"You are never more than 6ft................."

I wondered about the old adage about rats when we discovered that the hole, under the fencing, was a rat, and not a hedgehog as we and other blippers had hoped.
I even caught it on video through the new security camera I fitted to the rear wall of the house.
It is obviously living underneath the shed of our neighbour over the back but attracted into our garden by the seed dropped from the bird feeders.
I looked it up, "You are never more than 6 feet away from a rat" and it appears to be based on some truth according the population statistics, although it might not be a literal fact.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20716625
I bought some Rat Bait from a local DIY store (Screwfix) and put some in the hole beneath the fence. It was taken for two days but one, that you can just see in the photo, was put there 3 days ago and is still there. This would indicate that the rat has gone to that big Rathole in the sky.
Another, even better, sign is the debris in the hole, twigs and bits of foliage. That would indicate that nothing is using the run.
I have now blocked it with a brick to stop any other wild animals or bird from getting the bait and I will dispose of it and fill the hole during this week, when the rain stops!
I don't mind rats, and I didn't like disposing of it in this way but with young children playing in the garden regularly I don't want to take any chances with their health.
They do remind me of an incident when I was in Abu Dhabi. I was there to teach the management and operations staff about the new telephone system we were installing in the 'Forte Grande' hotel. I was in the basement sorting through the equipment ready for installation of the operator consoles for training when I heard, or sensed, something, I looked to my left and a LARGE rat was sitting on top of the telephone handset boxes about 5 feet away from me. I wasn't bothered and we just stared each other out for a while. When I tried talking to it that caused him/her to scurry off.
When I mentioned this to the hotel manager he immediately stopped all work and called in the Abu Dhabi health people. They got rid of the rats because one place you don't want them is where you have a lot of wiring!