From Ridus.ru
Moscow Taken Over by Rodents. The Authorities Prepare an “Anti-rat Blitzkrieg”
Muscovites have been complaining more and more about rats showing up.
As was written in Monday’s issue of the newspaper “Izvestiya”, the Moscow Federal Service of Human Welfare has noted a serious increase in complaints about rats in the residential sector.
According to the authorities, in just a single Northern District there were 11 complaints. Besides that, a similar situation has been developing in the East, Northeast, and Northwest Districts.
The Federal Service of Human Welfare said one of the reasons for the migration of rats to basements and apartments in large apartment buildings is the warm and humid May weather, but also the demolition of a large number of trade outlets, which were the main sources of food for animals.
Victor Fedoruk, head of the Information and Legal Center for Reform of Public Utility, agrees that this is the issue.
“After the stalls were taken down, the rodents scampered off to the nearest warm place and infiltrated apartments through ventilation ducts, which run through from the basement, and the ducts with television cables and electric wiring,” he noted.
The leading Officer of Sanitation of the Northern Administrative District, Larisa Berglezova, said to the newspaper that as a result of the complaints of residents, the authorities have decided on a total extermination in not only residential homes and adjacent territories, but in every co-op, as well.
According to the press secretary of the North-Western Administrative District, Elena Sedinaya, there have been complaints about rats by residents in their district also. The spokesman of the prefecture elaborated, saying contracts for the “anti-rat” campaign were concluded for every residential home.
The press-secretary of the Eastern Administrative District wrote about the disinfestation in the region.
“Specialists have inspected the basements and have gotten rid of the flooding in them because if there is water, the rats can survive after the poison is administered. Refuse chutes, waste bins, and also garages and store-rooms of neighboring stores were treated. The problem is that the disinfestation was carried out by the lowest bidding private companies, and the criteria for selection was price, not quality,” he remarked.
In turn, as the press-secretary of the North-Eastern Administrative District, Aleksandr Latishev, noted, the responsibility lies not only with these companies, who must keep the city clean, but with the residents themselves.
“People often leave bags next to the refuse chutes, which feeds stray animals. Such behavior leads to the appearance of rats,” he pointed out.
Comments from Ridus.ru
NikoBelik:
We warned you. Idiots.
coyoteOdin:
On the contrary, cats and dogs eat rats, so the orgy of rats can be attributed to the fight against stray cats and dogs.
Espera (responding to above):
Dogs don’t eat rats, but they create a feeding ground for rats
Asinch (responding to above):
More like eating, but they certainly smother them free of charge. Stray dogs in particular.
Espera (responding to above):
What kind of dogs do you have in mind?
Yuniy Slesar’:
Rats are coming.
Apototishka:
The increase in rats shows stability. If they run out of Moscow, like from a sinking ship, that will be a signal that stability is coming to an end.
Vera-4518:
The yard-workers destroyed all the cats…
NV:
And why were cats locked up in basements and doomed to a death of suffering.
Ilyatv:
The main reason for the appearance of rats is last year’s law about locking up all the basements, which stopped cats, who not only scared off the rats with their smell, but caught them, from living there. I live in Ostankino in a 16-story building, built in ’75, and we’ve never had rats, and in the basement there usually dwelled 2 or 3 cats, which never disturbed anybody. And now after they blocked the ventilation ducts to the basement last year, rats showed up, and every day they become fatter, bolder, and there are more of them.
Algentok:
“People often leave bags next to the refuse chutes” Evidently Aleksandr Latishev has never seen the ease with which rats jump into trash cans :) A little 2 to 3 centimeter mouse can easily jump out of a 3 liter bin, but certainly fully-grown rats…