The Lord Mayor of Sydney has announced that the city’s rat-baiting program is expected to double in the next few weeks as the City of Sydney responds to a growing number of rat sightings and several cases of leptospirosis in dogs.
The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore said the City of Sydney was taking action to tackle the problem.
She said the rat populations had been stirred by an unprecedented number of major construction and infrastructure projects taking place across the City of Sydney area.
“We will now have 860 rat bait stations in public areas and will place additional baits out when we receive complaints from residents and businesses,” Cr Moore said.
“We can’t fight the rat problem on our own, because we can only install rat baits on our own land,” she said.
“The City has written to Sydney Trains, Property NSW, Sydney Water and NSW Land and Housing Corporation to urge them to increase baiting and monitoring of rats on their land.”
Cr Moore said the City was recommending private property owners ensure regular pest control was carried out and that people should take advantage of the 52 free bulky waste collections available to residents every year.
She said there were more than 135 City of Sydney staff and contractors monitoring rats as part of their duties in public places like parks and streets, and food premises.
“Twenty-five environmental health officers carry out regular inspections of food premises and shopping centres, ensuring operators are fulfilling their responsibility to eradicate pests and vermin and prevent their entry into food premises,” she said.
“The City also recently introduced a requirement for all developers to provide a pest management plan ahead of major construction work,” the Lord Mayor said.
