Appendix 2 Information on Sewer Baiting and the Control of Rats ...

National Rodent Survey(These surveys involve responses from local authorities in the UK)The National Rodent Survey 2002 suggested that there was a 29% increase in brownrats between 1998 and 2002. One of the possible reasons put forward as to why therodent populations were growing was due to a reduction in funding by the privatizedwater authorities. This has meant that routine sewer surveys and treatments have beencurtailed.The National Rodent Survey 2007/2008 found that brown rats continue to be aproblem. The number of brown rat treatments were found to be over 378,000, up by44% on the previous year, with like-for-like treatment levels up more than 15%. Thesurge in rodent problems across the UK was traced back to a failure to get on top ofpopulations the previous year. Exceptionally mild conditions through the 2006/2007winter meant rats were much less evident than usual in and around buildings.Exacerbated by the decrease in rodent control in many areas this led to a markeddecline in both complaints and treatments. The population of rats increased greatlyand this led to a surge of complaints and treatments with the colder autumn weather in2007.Under half of the recorded treatments took place in the summer and just over half inthe winter. Mainly as a result of the very much higher levels of winter treatment, thisrepresents a clear change from the previous year when over 60% of rat treatmentswere in the summerThe National Rodent Survey 2009/2010 states that local authority economies arealready threatening public health. Their benchmark annual report shows the largestyearly fall in recorded local authority rat treatments since the survey was instituted in1999. At the same time, it reveals that much of this decline results from changes incharging practice rather than any decline in infestation levels. On a like-for-like basisthe latest NPTA survey shows national brown rat treatments were down by 19%, withthe notable exception of Northern Ireland.Rat activity/sewer baiting in BelfastSewer baiting treatments in Belfast increased from 16542 in 2008/09 to 17557 in2009/10, (an increase of 6%), and the rat complaints dropped by almost 4%.Over the last 30 years the levels of rat complaints has increased, with most problemsarising in areas of deprivation.Other research/evidenceIt is the experience of local authorities such as Oldham MBC and Kinston upon HullCC, which have undertaken careful monitoring of rat activity, that above groundinfestations are reduced with proactive baiting, in the latter case using the pulsedbaiting method (CIHE Sewer baiting and the control of rats 2003).