Toulouse: after confinement and the garbage collectors’ strike, the invasion of rats
The inhabitants of Toulouse observe a proliferation of rats in all the districts of the city. A phenomenon amplified with the garbage collectors’ strike. The town hall of Toulouse is implementing actions to eradicate this rodent.
“At nightfall, several dozen rats come out of the groves and wander around the square, remarks Elias, restaurateur places Wilson in the front row to observe the merry-go-round of these rodents. A prejudicial situation for the trade and the image of the city”. For several months, rats have been proliferating in the city, in search of food. “It has become recurrent, assures Yves, restaurateur on the Jean-Jaurès alleys. Since the covid, the phenomenon has amplified with new eating habits favoring the outdoors. Eating outside is good, but you still have to throw the rubbish in the bins in well-closed bags. Otherwise it’s the invasion! “.
Faced with the proliferation of rats on the Jean-Jaurès alleys, this trader installed a grid behind his restaurant and put rat poison in his cellar. He adds: “What is the City doing? The situation has been going on for more than a year”.
In Empalot, residents signed a petition, disgusted by their presence in the car parks. The long strike by the garbage collectors also succeeded in aggravating the situation. With bins overflowing with rubbish on the sidewalks, the rats were treated to a real feast. Allées Charles-de-Fitte where the containers are still full, the residents can’t take it anymore: “Too many garbage cans still piling up on the sidewalk, laments Caroline, a resident. Ideal for attracting rats. In the evening, I dare not take my dog out. I hear them nibbling and detailing in the dark. It became worrying”.
The town hall of Toulouse derats
Municipal councillor, in charge of the Animal in the City, Françoise Ampoulange takes the problem very seriously. “We particularly monitor the hotspots such as the squares by placing boxes of rat poison. Once inside, death is assured”. A definitive and non-preventive treatment, declared only in the event of the proven presence of the rodent. “If after two or three days, the rat no longer absorbs the poison, we stop”, remarks the elected official who specifies: “After the major cleanliness problems, linked in particular to the garbage collectors’ strike, the Animal service in city has identified several places where the rats have become very numerous. In fact, they go where the food is. We have therefore made an inventory with the municipalities of the Metropolis”.
If rats have always existed in the city, around rivers and waterways in particular, it is everyone’s responsibility to prevent their proliferation: “Rats remain the concern of everyone and not only of the actions of the city” , insists the chosen one.
According to veterinarian Jean Lavayssière, the rat is not dangerous, unless you find yourself in direct contact with the rodent’s urine, which can then transmit leptospirosis, a benign condition once called garbage collectors’ disease. “On the other hand, there is no risk of crossing a rat on a sidewalk. Intelligent, it also adapts to all situations, hence the difficulty in eradicating it”.
Deratization with ferrets!
Ecological and effective… The rat extermination tests by ferrets, tested in 2021 by the town hall of Toulouse, proved conclusive, in particular on the banks of the Brienne canal and in Empalot, where Mure, a female ferret and Nuit, a male showed their effectiveness. In thirty minutes, the two ferrets had caught a dozen rats. The process put in place by Alexandre Raynal, a ferret breeder in the Gers, is simple: “With City officials, delimited with nets, a few square meters of galleries in green spaces or at the foot of buildings. The ferret is then introduced into the gallery. After a few minutes the rat comes out. All that remains is to capture it and euthanize it by inhaling carbon dioxide”. An innovative but restrictive solution (appointment with the only service provider in the region, length of the procedure). In addition, not all land is suitable for deratting by ferrets.