The rat infestation problem in Singapore, which has
been in the news in recent years, seems to have reared its ugly
head once again – this time in Ang Mo Kio, especially, which has
been plagued by the problem the last few years.
In its latest issue of the town council’s newsletter,
the Ang Mo Kio Town Council (AMKTC) revealed that in the two months
from February this year, 211 rat burrows were detected and treated,
and 91 carcasses were disposed of.
“Where possible, the Town Council tries to keep estates
rodent-free through the sealing of cracks or holes in floors,
walls, ceilings, partitions and doors, and the use of rodent
proofing covers,” it said.
In January, a woman who was dining at a hawker centre
in the Teck Ghee ward of the constituency spotted rats and
cockroaches scurrying away even as she was having her meal.
“I was eating for about 10 minutes at Teck Ghee Court
Market & Food Centre and saw four humongous rats running around
me and some cockroaches as companions,” she told the media.
The town council said then that it had informed the
National Environment Agency (NEA) of the incident, and urged stall
owners to take adequate action to ensure proper waste disposal to
keep the rats away.
But the rat problem in Ang Mo Kio seems to be a
recurring one the last few years.
In 2013, a resident posted on the Hardware Zone forum photos of rats
he had taken in the neighbourhood.
“I don’t purposely go and catch the rats, but they were
making [so] much noise that all I did was to point my camera and
just snap,” he said.
In 2012, rats were also found in two food outlets in
Ang Mo Kio Mall.
The NEA said that following public feedback, it had
found signs of rat activities in Dian Xiao Er Restaurant and MOF
restaurant in the mall.
The mall’s pest control records showed that four rats
were caught in November 2012, and that six rat burrows were also
found near the mall.
And in 2011, then-resident of the Yio Chu Kang ward,
Ravi Philemon, was so incensed by the problem in his area
that he wrote to his Member of Parliament,
Seng Han Thong.
“The problems I have highlighted in the past, have come
back again,” Mr Philemon wrote. “The rat infestation has grown
worse and the recent heavy downpour has flushed out the rats from
their burrows and their menace is unbearable. They are huge and are
not even afraid of humans.”
Rat infestations have been in the spotlight in recent
years, particularly in Bukit Batok where hundreds of rats were
spotted near the MRT station there.
And just three weeks ago, a primary school in Choa Chu
Kang instructed its teachers to be on the lookout
after a suspected infestation of rats was discovered in its staff
room.
The Straits Times reported that “the infestation has
been going on for several months, with rat droppings and urine
found on tables and in corners of the staff room.”
The school had to bring in pest controllers to look
into the problem.
The rat infestation situation around Singapore was
deemed to be so serious that experts were cautioning in January
that diseases could break out if the trend continued.
The NEA alone received 4,106 complaints about rats in
2014, about 35 per cent more than the 3,031 complaints in 2013.
This “apparent explosion in the rat population” in
Singapore is a potential threat to public health, as it can “lead
to diseases spreading and even fires in older buildings if the
rodents gnaw on power cables.”
“If the wires are exposed, people may be electrocuted
by live wires during maintenance work, the electricity supply may
become unstable and household appliances could catch fire,” Star
Pest Control’s general manager, Bernard Chan, said.
According to the Straits Times, the NEA said “close to
90 per cent of the burrows in its October- November inspection were
in housing estates.”
“We are concerned about the increase in the number of
burrows detected,” said a NEA spokesman then.