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46
PREVENTION OF DAMAGE BY PESTS ACT 1949
RODENTS
Complete eradication of rats in the sewers of Shoreditch is our aim,
and whilst in previous Annual Reports we have referred to the term 'Rodent
Control', success in the complete eradication of rats from drainage systems in
limited areas within the Borough ' has convinced us that there is no reason why
we should not gain equal success over the whole Borough.
The result of the policy adopted during the year has produced success
far beyond our wildest hopes, and at the end of 1963, 88% of all manholes and
side entrances to sewers proved to be free from rats.
The valuable assistance afforded to this Department by the Officers
of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is to be highly commended
and we very much appreciate the encouragement given to us by them in this new
venture.
The whole campaign conducted as a military operation was organised
as follows:-
A persistent battle is being waged against the invasion of rats into
the Borough at al 1 points where sewers enter or leave the Borough boundary.
At the same time, a mopping up within the boundary is carried out.
This briefly is the method in which the campaign is being"conducted,
but no campaign could be successful unless breeding grounds within the
perimeter of the Borough are abolished.
The breeding grounds to which we refer are disused drains connected
to the sewers, for it is here that rats breed and multiply and these must
be destroyed and abolished, otherwise the whole campaign would be futile.
Make no mistake this does not mean a reduction in the work of the
Rodent Section of the Department, on the contrary it has made a considerable
increase in the amount of labour involved in the preparing of drainage plans
of premises in Clearance Areas whilst in occupation and before demolition
takes place, and in the supervision of the effective sealing of these drains
at the junction of the sewer when demolition takes place. Surely this
positive action in preventing rats from establishing themselves in the sewers
is more profitable than the negative approach of ignoring the attack at the
source and dealing with them after infestation has become well established.
The poison used is sodium-fluoracetemide as recommended by the
Ministry, and it is used in the following manners:-