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58
PREVENTION OF DAMAGE BY PESTS ACT, 1949
This Act is mainly concerned with the destruction of rats
and mice and it places a duty on the occupier of any premises
to report to the Local Authority any infestation by such rodents,
2 ratcatchers, officially designated rodent operatives, a:<
employed to deal with such complaints.
During the year, 1,531 private dwellings were inspected
following complaints and in 1,112 instances infestation was codfirmed
and dealt with by the rodent operatives. In 15 instances
defective drainage was permitting the egress of rats from tie
sewers - appropriate action was taken to have the drains repaired
and the adjacent sewers treated. 177 business premises were found
to be infested with rats or mice and these were all disinfestei
during the year. 32 of these were treated by the occupiers.
Regular inspections are made of premises where food is prepare!
or sold and particular attention is given to methods of prevention
of rodent infestation. Corporation owned premises including sewage
works, refuse tips, depots, school kitchens and serveries, etc,,
are periodically inspected for the presence of rodents and if
infested then action is taken by the department to eradicate the
pests. 25 infestations at such premises were dealt with during
the year. Included in the Corporation's ownership are the sewers
of the Borough and for some years now these have been systematically
treated for rat infestation and whilst the results have
shown a steady decline in the rat population over the years,
certain areas still persist in showing infestation.
These areas were given a special treatment during the year
with very good results. 688 manholes were involved and these were
treated initially with antu, a rodenticide. After this treatment
190 manholes were still found to be infested and in consequence
a warfarin treatment was applied to all the manholes in the areas
over a period of three weeks. Warfarin is an anti blood coagulant
which has been used with good results in the treatment of surface
infestations. A preservative was added to the warfarin in order
to retain its palatability. The warfarin was renewed after eact
seven days during the three weeks treatment. The final observations
showed that all the 688 manholes were free from rat infes"
tation.
The summer treatment to be carried out in the months of May
and June, 1957 will be interesting in that it will show the real.
effectiveness of this special and concentrated attack on the
sewer rat.