Rats! Nowhere to hide as surveillance causes burrows to slide
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NEA assistant manager Chew Kai Wei (left) and senior executive Mahyuddin Humaidi use a passive infrared camera inside a drain as part of rat control measures on Sept 24.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
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SINGAPORE – Singapore seems to be winning its ongoing fight against the rat population.
There was a nearly 50 per cent drop in the average number of rat burrows detected in public areas in the first half of 2024, compared with 2023, the National Environment Agency (NEA) reported on Sept 24.
Surveillance is conducted every two months. During each two-month surveillance cycle, an average of about 2,700 rat burrows were detected in the first half of 2024, down from 5,200 in 2023. From 2020 to 2022, the numbers were 4,300, 3,900 and 4,162, respectively.
NEA said this positive outcome is owing to a collective effort.
This comprised stepped-up enforcement against improper refuse management; greater use of technology such as sensors, infrared cameras, thermal cameras and borescopes to detect rat activity; and stronger coordination with stakeholders such as town councils, food operators and supermarkets.
NEA and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) increased enforcement against improper refuse management in areas around trade premises, food licensees and at bin collection points.
In the first half of 2024, there were about 380 cases of enforcement action against owners or occupiers of premises over rat-related lapses; among these, 105 were for poor refuse management practices.
In 2023, 80 out of about 670 enforcement cases were for poor refuse management practices.
Owners of premises who fail to practise proper refuse management, or who create conditions favourable to the harbouring or propagating of rats, are subject to enforcement under the Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA) and the Control of Vectors and Pesticides Act (CVPA).
Under the CVPA, the maximum penalty is a fine of up to $20,000 or up to three months’ jail, or both, for the first offence.
For a first offence under the EPHA, the maximum penalty is a fine of up to $1,000 and an additional fine not exceeding $100 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.
In April, NEA conducted a four-month trial for the use of four to eight thermal surveillance cameras in two hot spots – Buffalo Road and Telok Ayer Street – to find areas where rats gather and hide.
These cameras can pick up the infrared radiation emitted by warm-blooded animals such as rats. This radiation is invisible to the human eye but can be detected by special sensors in the camera.
The technology also allows NEA to capture footage of rat activity and the rodents’ routes.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng (second from right) being briefed by NEA officer Tan Guan Qun about a thermal surveillance camera installed at a carpark in Toa Payoh.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
NEA shares data collected from the cameras with stakeholders such as town councils, food premises and trade operators, so they can take measures such as removing the rats and preventing reinfestation by removing the structures rats use to get access to food.
NEA said it will continue to use the thermal surveillance cameras after the trial, along with existing technological solutions.
Pest controllers told The Straits Times in January that they had observed up to 25 per cent more inquiries about rat infestations per month since November 2023. They believe that the wet weather then was driving rats to seek drier ground.
Mr Baey Yam Keng (right) distributing leaflet about good practices in managing and preventing rat activity in food retail establishments to Mr Lim Chee Leong at Kim San Leng Coffeeshop in 183 Toa Payoh Central.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
In January, a resident in Hougang Avenue 8 found her car engine was covered in rat droppings and her vehicle was unable to start veterinarians reported an increase of leptospirosis infections among dogs
On July 14, a rat was spotted on a table in the dining area of a Don Don Donki store at Orchard Central
According to NEA’s website, rats can spread diseases to humans through direct contact or inhalation of dust contaminated with rat urine or droppings, or via a flea bite from an infected rat.
These diseases, such as leptospirosis, murine typhus and hantavirus, can cause serious problems like kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, and fatal respiratory diseases.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng urged stakeholders such as food operators and trade premises to continue working with NEA and SFA in keeping the rat population low.
On a site visit on Sept 24 in Toa Payoh Central during NEA and SFA’s update on rat control and prevention efforts, he said: “We can never be complacent in our efforts in tackling the rodent issue. So while we have seen a reduction of burrows, and hence the rodent population, a single lapse can lead to recurrence, and also (allow) the rats to multiply.”
