PE rats 'the size of cats'
2007-01-29 21:05
Johannesburg - Parts of Port Elizabeth are being plagued by an unprecedented increase in the city's rat population, The Herald Online reported on Monday.
"There are rats the size of cats," said John Preller, CEO of the Hill Improvement District.
"It goes all the way from the top end of Rink Street to the harbour. I have had a myriad of complaints from businesses catering for tourism, such as restaurants."
Dries van Niekerk, chairperson of the Pest Controllers' Association, Eastern Province region, said rat-control programmes in privately or corporate-owned buildings had ceased over the past 10 years.
This had resulted in the rat population explosion.
Van Niekerk said filthy conditions in certain dilapidated, vandalised, and vagrant-occupied buildings on the Hill provided ideal breeding conditions for the rats.
Mandela Bay Development Agency chief executive officer Pierre Voges said: "I'm not denying (we have a serious rat problem) for a second. A lot of property owners have complained about it. I wrote to the municipality asking them to do something about the rats, but never got an answer."
Municipal environmental services business unit manager Dr Paul Martin said the areas concerned were being monitored and bait set out at several key spots.
Van Niekerk said large Norwegian rats, known as harbour rats, had originally been found in the harbour area but were now found throughout the city.
"They've grown accustomed to human beings and the hygiene problem on the Hill has resulted in a well-fed, well-furred and healthy rat population."
- SAPA