KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — The Selayang wholesale market and Chow Kit market are among five public markets in the capital which have been classified as breeding grounds for rats and feared to be exposed to the potentially deadly Leptospirosis or rat urine disease.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Senior Assistant Environmental Health officer, Mariappan Chinniah said the three other markets were the Pudu, Sentul and Keramat markets.

“We conduct operations to catch rats in these markets five times a week and each day we would set up more than 50 mouse traps,” he told Bernama recently.

Mariappan said within a month, they managed to capture around 6,000 rats in the five markets with an average catch of 50 rats per day.

“The figure has not changed much over the last five years,” he added.

In fact, he said, these markets were also found to be the breeding grounds for rats with the existence of scores of active rat burrows detected.

Mariappan said the rat population was more active in market areas than in houses due to the dirty and unkempt environment.

“The main factors contributing to the abundant presence of rats in markets are the water, food wastes and shelters such as holes in the drain,” he said.

Bernama reporters who were on the trail of DBKL Environmental Health Department officers in their operation to catch rats at Pudu market last Friday were astonished to see seven brown medium-sized rats caught within five minutes.

The surroundings in Pudu market was extremely filthy with chicken innards strewn on the floor and the drains channelling water from the market clogged with innards and blood.

Rats were also seen running around and based on estimation there were about 1,000 rats in the location. 

The operation which lasted about three hours managed to capture more than 30 rats of various sizes.

Mariappan said whilst DBKL conducted these operations frequently in an effort to achieve zero rats, everything depended on the attitude of the traders and hawkers.

He said rat control operation in markets was a most difficult task as use of rat poison was not allowed for fear of affecting the food sold.

Based on DBKL Pest Control Unit statistics last year, a total of 54,370 rodents were caught.

However, from January to May this year, the number caught was more alarming with 13,294 recorded compared with about 12,000, in the corresponding period last year. — Bernama