“A rat crawled under my skirt and bit me!”: how rodents plague Russian cities

In the French capital, the rat population has grown over the past two years and, according to some sources, is six million, and according to others – as much as nine. However, for some reason, the French authorities are fighting them very sluggishly. And on January 15, the mayor of Paris called on city residents to “learn to live with rats,” creating a working group that will explain that “rats are not dangerous.”

“I believe that the topic of rats in Paris is greatly exaggerated, taking into account the “interesting plot” for journalists,” Alexey Menshikov, a pest expert, disinfection technologist, and head of the facility sanitary treatment service, expressed his opinion to MK. — Colleagues have been to Paris and haven’t seen hordes of rats on the streets. Of course, if there are open garbage dumps somewhere that are not cleared out for a long time, creating favorable environments for rodents, then in such places they quickly multiply. Just like in Russia, there are some areas, for example, neglected food facilities with unsanitary conditions, and there are even some old facilities in Moscow near the metro, where work is carried out from time to time, but, alas, they do not give the desired effect. This requires many different activities. It all depends on how the responsible person approaches ensuring order in his territory.

As for Russian cities, for some reason Lyubertsy is famous for its abundance of rodents, from where news about rats comes especially often. The other day, a video came from there of an acrobat rat quickly climbing the stairs leading to the roof of a high-rise building, and not alone, but with his brothers. “It’s not surprising, in Lyubertsy, rats with their pups live in the basements of houses, they have gnawed holes in the cement under the house and run in packs everywhere, they are not afraid of anything,” commented Lana, a resident of the city. “You only have time in the summer, when leaving the entrance, to chase them away so as not to get on your leg.”

However, in the capital, rodents also feel at ease. “Moscow, st. Taininskaya, 17, building 1, (metro station “Medvedkovo”) – we have a dominance of rodents, cats and rats eat from the same dishes, where “compassionate” residents put food, – Natalia, a resident of this house, complained to MK. “They put bowls next to our house, and if we make a remark, we get rude response!” Not so long ago we were repairing the entrance steps to the entrance (they were removing them), so in case of danger, cats and rats ran there together to hide! We contacted our “Zhilischnik”, but everything was useless. Moreover, employees from the State Budgetary Institution “Zhilischnik” themselves feed the cats, and with them the rats. When we saw cats and rats together, we were very surprised. But then we learned that if the cats have a good food supply, then they can coexist peacefully.”

Another Muscovite shared a shocking story with MK: “My colleague, a doctor, came on call, stood in the elevator hall, waiting for the elevator. A couple of meters away I saw a rat. And then Lena suddenly felt something scratching on her leg, under her long skirt, and suddenly – a bite! She recoiled in fear, lifted her skirt (it was summer), and a rat climbed up her leg under her skirt and bit her! She was given rabies injections for several months.” Muscovites report on social networks that they see rats even on playgrounds.

It would seem that progress does not stand still, and is it really so difficult in our time to effectively fight rodents? Expert Alexey Menshikov told MK that many standards came to Russia from Europe (perhaps not all European enterprises and restaurants comply with them, hence the problems). We are now actively developing pest control systems to control the number of pests. Special devices read the number of rodents, their variety, show their activity in certain areas, and thus detect violations. That is, according to the expert, now it is not difficult to track and control the activity of pests on the territory; it all depends on the desire and budget of the enterprise.

“If we talk about Moscow, then there are rats everywhere, the main outbreaks are hidden from us – these are most often some large communication areas, areas of electrical panels that are located next to people, with apartment buildings,” continues our expert. — Rodents are everywhere, but what measures are taken to combat them is a question. And if there are violations of waste storage conditions at large facilities or private areas, then rats will definitely come running. If they are hungry, they can attack children at night (if they break into apartments) and bite them, there have been such cases.”

The rodent, in addition, comes to places where there are technical defects in buildings, where it can slip in at the time of cold weather or at the time of an increase in seasonal numbers – this is spring and autumn. Therefore, it is precisely during these periods that most large organizations are prescribed the work that should be carried out there. If they are carried out in a timely manner, everything will be fine.

As for modern methods of regulating the pest population, now, for example, it is already very difficult to drive them away with just a bioacoustic repeller (the ultrasonic waves of which, in theory, should cause uncomfortable sensations in the rodent, including blocking the hearing aid). According to the specialist, the current breed of rats is already accustomed to them, and if only acoustic repellers are installed on the territory and no chemical work or mechanical trapping is carried out, this will not help.

First of all, you need to repair all holes, all destroyed foundations, blind areas, and defects in metal finishes. The object must be hermetically sealed. The second stage is to install large platforms with glue on which food baits are placed. Until now, specialists also use mechanical traps with bait: smoked meat, lard, cheeses. Mechanical catching is carried out in parallel with disinfection.

“Most often, when a rodent gets into a certain environment where it cannot move, it has a heart attack and dies,” the expert continues. — The cleaning company must have an agreement with a service that will collect and cremate dead pests. But there is such a specialized bait of a new generation – an anticoagulant – after consuming it a certain chemical reaction occurs in the rodent, it dies and then begins to dry out and mummify. And even if it gets stuck somewhere in communications, in ceilings, in walls, it dries quickly, and you don’t even need to get them out.”

These unpleasant details, of course, can make the hearts of particularly zealous animal defenders, who feel sorry for even cesspool rats, shudder. However, we must not forget that they are carriers of many diseases and infections, such as plague, Q fever, typhus, leptospirosis, tularemia, erysipelas, and rabies. “Rodents that live in garbage dumps and basements are capable of carrying various infections, including intestinal ones, on their paws,” the specialist warns. — There are cases when a rodent is caught, and it turns out that it was a carrier of some microorganisms similar to plague bacteria. I know of cases where people died at some sites after contracting an infection from rodents.” Add to this that the tailed creatures reproduce with terrible force and chew through everything they meet on their way, including various communication equipment. Do you still feel sorry for the rats that fell victim to glue?