There are several million in Paris and they do not leave anyone indifferent: the rats regularly sow discord in the Parisian political debate, notes the AFP agency, quoted by boursorama.com.
The latest episode began with a wish proposed by Paul Hatte, an opposition politician (LR) from the 17th arrondissement, at the Paris Council meeting on July 7. Rejected by the majority, this motion called for an audit of measures put in place by social housing landlords to combat the proliferation of rats in common areas of housing.
“The fight against rats has been completely forgotten by Paris City Hall,” Hatte told AFP. Since 2018, elected officials in the 17th arrondissement, in the north-west of the capital, have been particularly active in the fight against rodents, by creating citizen brigades and launching a reporting website.
“The executive is not providing the necessary political and technical resources,” Hatte added, criticizing the city’s central council for not giving neighborhood mayors enough freedom in rat-fighting policy.
For its part, Paris City Hall defends “a large-scale action plan launched in 2017 to limit the number of rats”. The plan has two main components: direct actions to reduce the population (traps, poisoning, etc.) and actions to limit their access to waste (new containers and bins, public awareness campaign).
The city’s anti-rat policy was criticized by Douchka Markovic, a member of the Animalist Party in Ward 18. At the July 7 Council meeting, she regretted the use of lethal methods against rats.
Her speech, in which she referred to rats with the terminology of “surmulot” and “legitimizing their place in cities”, drew criticism and mockery on social media.
France’s National Academy of Medicine denounced the “naivete of these remarks”, pointing out that rats remain a threat to humans due to “numerous zoonoses that can be transmitted through exoparasites, droppings, bites or scratches”.
These health risks are nuanced by the Paris City Hall, which reminds that “the rat, which is very shy, is not a predator by nature.” The municipality believes that transmissions are reduced because “there must be direct or indirect contact between man and animal, and direct contact is rare.”
Keeping the rat underground
“People have always tried to eradicate rats, but it’s impossible. We have to think of other methods,” Douchka Markovic told AFP, stressing the cost of fighting rats. In 2017, Paris City Hall estimated the annual cost at 1.5 million euros; a cost that includes all measures (rat extermination campaigns, cleaning actions, change of street furniture, etc.).
“It is a very politically sensitive subject”, says Grégory Moreau, deputy (EELV) in the 11th arrondissement, who regrets the “timidity of the City Hall”, where the problem is divided between several delegations (cleanliness of public space, health, the condition of animals… ).
“We are trying to develop non-lethal methods in parallel with traditional techniques,” says Christophe Najdovski, deputy responsible for the greening of public spaces, green areas, biodiversity and animal welfare.
Najdovski insists on the need to act upstream, “to make sure the rats don’t have access to food”, and the “civic spirit” needed to reduce waste in public spaces.
