Dundee could face a looming rat infestation

As if residents don’t have enough on their plates dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, a rat infestation threatens to add to their misery.

FC Bester of the Endumeni Residents’ Association, who is also an environmentalist, said he has been overwhelmed by complaints from residents in recent weeks over an upsurge in rats invading properties. “This is of huge concern. We already have our backs against the wall, fighting the virus, and with rats multiplying, it will put further pressure on the health of our town,” says Mr Bester.

He blames the rodent outbreak on overgrown and abandoned properties within the municipal area, which he says are not properly managed by the municipality.

“Landlords simply leave their properties to become overgrown. These plots then become ideal dumping grounds for building rubble and even stolen property – as was the case earlier this year in Beaconsfield Street. Landlords must be held accountable.

“If they refuse to maintain their properties, the municipality should do it for them and send them the bill.” Mr Bester said overgrown plots of land, building rubble and dumped domestic refuse are all ideal breeding grounds for rats.

According to pest control company Rentokil, a pair of rats can produce nearly half a billion offspring in three years. “If we were to do nothing, we would be overrun by rats,” says Dr Andy Brigham, general technical manager of Science & Service with Rentokil Initial. “Their breeding strategy is very different to that of humans. It is characterised by quantity over quality. They produce very large numbers of offspring on the basis that at least some will survive long enough to produce their own litters.”

Mr Bester said that rats carry up to 35 diseases that can be easily spread to humans directly through handling of live or dead rodents; contact with rodent faeces, urine, or saliva; as well as rodent bites. Rodent droppings can trigger allergies and transmit food-borne illness such as salmonella. “We really need our local Health Department to come on board and clamp down on those who clearly do not have the interests of others at heart by not maintaining their properties.”

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