Bukit Batok rat infestation worse than expected

SINGAPORE – Pest busters who are trying to contain the rat infestation beside Bukit Batok MRT said today (Dec 20) they believe the infestation is affecting a bigger area than expected.

They added that efforts are being hampered by bad weather while new traces of food which can attract the rodents, have been discovered.

Thirty pest controllers have been combing the hill beside Bukit Batok MRT station to tackle the rat infestation. More than 140 rodents have been caught as of day three of the operation and more rats have been found further inside the forested area.

“We can go further, deeper into the hill and other parts behind the hill as well and we do notice that there are activities over there,” said Bernard Chan, manager of Star Pest Control. “We have created some simple road paths for the workers to access and conduct their work, and currently we are setting up more trappings.”

Authorities said food left behind for stray dogs have contributed to the rat infestation. Despite calls for more responsible behaviour, new traces of food have been found.

“For the last two days, because we are conducting operations here, the dog feeder actually detoured and went behind the hill,” said Mr Chan.

“Last night, we discovered that they are throwing the food just behind the hill, which is a restricted area. We have also discovered that the amount of food that the dog feeder is providing the dog is quite a large amount, about 10 kilogrammes.”

The pest busters said the rats caught are roof rats, though they were earlier identified by another pest buster as sewer rats. Roof rats have been known to cause damage to properties.

“They are definitely good climbers and also good jumpers and their movement is much faster than sewer rats,” said Mr Chan. “If the population is not under control, if the population is overgrown, I think the rats will start to migrate into the stations and can cause more damage, not only to the properties’ cables, but also migrate to the food establishments.

“Based on their behaviour, they will also need to gnaw something to sharpen their teeth and they might cause damage to the facility. We have seen this before, where they have bitten through the phone cables, land lines or even live wire as well in other places actually like in commercial buildings.”

The pest controllers said the operation may take more than a week to complete. CHANNEL NEWSASIA