Pest management professionals (PMP) in Dublin, Ireland, have treated for more rat infestations than for insects this summer, reports the Irish Daily Mirror.
Normally, pest control companies see a higher number of calls for insect pest treatments through the summer months, as well as a higher number of rat infestations in the winter months, but this year has been different.
A PMP told the Irish publication rodents have overtaken insects as the top invader of Dublin homes this summer.
“Normally this time of the year we’re crawling in flying insects, but to be honest with you, the rats just won’t go away,” says Trevor Hayden from Complete Pest Control. “The population of rats is just so high. Normally, myself and the lads would more or less pack away our rat stuff for the summer, but this year there’s been no difference between winter and summer with regard to rat jobs.”
The rats have made for interesting headlines in Dublin news publications this summer. Last month a video of Dublin-area residents chasing rats went viral.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDkV4iyYdnc
“There’s not a postcode in Dublin we’re not doing. It’s unbelievable, and there’s not one contributing factor, there’s a load of things. We’re getting a lot of jobs where it’s extensions at the back of people’s houses that were done during the boom. They were put up very quickly, the pipework maybe underneath wasn’t 100 percent, and the rats are finding their way in. It’s the one thing I wouldn’t want in my house. It’s horrible, and these things are huge.”
A local government official also notes that the rats are spreading and seem to be unafraid of human contact.
“This isn’t an isolated incident,” Trevor Gilligan, Fianna Fáil (the Irish republican party) councillor, told the publication. “They’ve been spreading to other estates for some time now and it’s getting worse.”
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