Infrared pest control is fast becoming a large necessity for battling infestation from unwelcome rodents. Thermal imaging cameras & thermal scopes have been successfully used in countries such as the USA and Australia for eliminating feral hogs and other destructive varmints. Now The Republic of Singapore is using infrared pest control to eliminate a humungous rat colony from Bukit Batok. Residents were stunned when Ryan Keith Smith, a longtime resident of the area, spotted a flood of the furry nuisances on December 16 directly beside an MRT train station and uploaded the video to the internet.
Infrared pest control is being used to curtail the rat population in Singapore
“I was there for about 10 minutes and I think I saw more than 50 rats,” he said in an interview with Channel NewsAsia. “This spot is near to many eateries, and rats can breed very quickly and bite through wires, so I am quite concerned.” He then proceeded to address the issue with the National Environment Agency (NEA) and was told they’d, “look into it.” The area is host to several restaurants in the area, including a popular McDonald’s, which has the locals fearing the spread of diseases the rats may be carrying.
The recent onslaught of rat activity is believed to be caused by good Samaritans feeding stray dogs in the area. Despite signs in the area prohibiting them from feeding the dogs, people walk up the hill and leave bags of dog food in the open grass. If the dogs leave remnants, the rats quickly sweep in to devour it, which in turn is making them more aggressive and possibly more dangerous to passersby.
Since the video documenting the rat infestation went viral, pest controllers have caught over 170 rats with nets and have been using poison in their burrows to help eradicate the quickly breeding terrors. But the problem still remains. Last week, Mr Lim, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development and Environment, said, “We should go on an outreach program to reach out to coffee shop owners and people living in the area, to say that if they see anyone trying to feed stray dogs, tell them to please make sure that they clear up the food after they have fed the animals. Of course, it’s best if you don’t even feed the animals, because you’re just leaving food around in an unhygienic manner.”
Stepping Up the Effort with Infrared Pest Control
Rats are fast, hard to track and breed in vast numbers, making their infestation an often chronic issue. So officials are stepping up their arsenal on the nibbling nuisances by installing 20 infrared pest control cameras on trees throughout the wooded area where the rats are known to congregate. The thermal imaging cameras will be able to photograph the rats and track their movements at night when they are most active. “Right now, in the day time, the mice are not as active as before. We want to know if there are is still activity during the night,” said Mr Bernard Chan, the manager of Star Pest Control. “We have been using this camera for the past two years and it is very effective. It provides us with adequate information on whether or not the targeted pest is still active.”
Though Star Pest Control has been eliminating a good portion of the rat population, local people are going to have to take some responsibility and use more care in feeding the stray animals in the area. And if the locals are going to continue exacerbating the issue, Chan will be sure to turn their photographs to the authorities. “Every day, the pest control team finds dog food in different parts of the forest area. This means that the feeders probably sneak up the hill every night. Just yesterday, the team went for their dinner break and when they came back, food suddenly appeared out of nowhere,” he said.
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Read more from Channel News Asia at: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore
Video Courtesy of Channel News Asia YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RQlfv-3BgOY