Sydney rat problem skyrockets along with complaints, fears for tourism

SYDNEY is in the grip of a rat plague so big it is threatening to undermine the city’s reputation with overseas visitors. There are now more disease-ridden rats in Sydney than people, and requests for exterminations have doubled in just a year.

Rats scurry in a Surry Hills laneway. Picture: Richard Dobson

SYDNEY is in the grip of a rat plague so big it is threatening to undermine the city’s reputation with overseas visitors.

There are now more disease-ridden rats living in Sydney than people, and requests for exterminations have doubled in just a year.

Top tourist destinations including Hyde Park and Circular Quay are overrun with rodents, and businesses right across the city are complaining of infestations of “rats the size of cats”.

A rat dashes across a Hyde Park pathway. Picture: Richard Dobson

Data compiled for The Saturday Telegraph by trades website HiPages shows rat extermination jobs have more than doubled since last year.

Complaints to the City of Sydney council have also jumped by about 75 per cent.

Increased density across the city is believed to be fuelling the infestation and academics are investigating new ways to tackle the problem.

Rats carry bacteria that can cause dangerous illnesses in humans, such as liver disease and salmonella.

Independent City of Sydney councillor and chief executive of VEVO cafe Angela Vithoulkas said she had been swamped with complaints from other business owners about the rats.

“There have always been rats in Sydney, but I’ve never seen it as bad as this,” she said. “It’s not good for business or tourism. Some of them are the size of cats and they can be very hard to control.”

Ms Vithoulkas said she would like to see new rodent pest management strategies implemented for all buildings during the development application stage of construction.

Local pest controller Paul Dinos said he was flooded with requests for rat exterminations. In one recent job he was confronted with an infestation of more than 50 rats that had overtaken a bin outside a restaurant.

“You can control their numbers, but they’re almost impossible to get rid of completely,” Mr Dinos said.

University of Sydney associate professor Dr Mathew Crowther said rats “well outnumbered” the human population.

“There’s a saying that you’ve never more than a metre away from a rat in the city,” he said.

Dr Crowler is investigating ways cat hair and infusions of cat hair could be used as a repellent for rats.

A City of Sydney spokesman said “an unprecedented number of major demolition and construction works” was “stirring up rat populations and leading to increased rat movements”.

He said the council had a regular pest control program in place using bait stations in public places and was “reviewing the servicing levels of the stations”.