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32
RODENT CONTROL
It is now twelve months since an experiment was commenced in Shoreditch
in co¬operation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to see
what could be done to eradicate rats completely from sewers in a Central
London Borough as opposed to the traditional method of merely controlling the
rat population in sewers.
A campaign has been conducted as a military operation maintaining constant
poisoning at the points on the Borough boundary where the trunk sewers enter
and leave the Borough.
The object of this operation was to prevent rats entering the Borough
from other local authority areas thus containing them within defined limits.
A mopping up campaign was then conducted by direct poisoning with 1081
(Sodium Fluoracetamide) at four-monthly intervals At the end of the year
test baits were laid to assess the results of the 12 months' work, with the
following results -
Complete takes Partial Takes No Takes
64
NIL (These slight takes may however have been over-estimated, for where doubt was experienced such are included in
this figure of 64)
342
Never before in the history of Shoreditch has any success similar to this
been achieved; indeed, what was considered to be good results two years ago
would now be considered to be far from satisfactory.
As a matter of interest, the treatment has covered some 65,000 yards
of sewers, a little over half being 3 ft high or over and the remainder being
less than 3 ft
Let there be no mistake that the vast amount of work employed in the
effective sealing and abolition of disused drains, has had a great bearing on
the results obtained In the opinion of the Chief Public Health Inspector,
the vast amount of effort put into this side of the project, even though staff
can be ill spared is of paramount importance, This subject is further
amplified under the drainage section of the report.
The almost complete absence of surface infestations throughout the Borough
during the year is a positive indication of the very drastic reduction of the
rat population in the sewers and of the effectiveness of the proper sealing
and abolition of all disused drains.
The almost complete absence of rats in factories and warehouses and
similar places is another very definite indication of success
The policy of encouraging occupiers of business premises to entrust the
destruction of rodents in such premises to the local authority through
Contracts has continued with success, and the number of contracts maintained
throughout the year was 69 yielding an income of £1,582. 33 single treatments
were carried out yielding £234.