For years, the Blixembosch neighbourhood was a popular haven for the black rat, whose gnawing drove residents to despair. By joining forces with the municipality, the neighbourhood finally seems to have found an effective approach. If it is up to CDA (christian democrats), this approach will also be implemented in other rat-infested neighbourhoods.
For years, fighting rats in Blixembosch was a battle of man against rat. Those who were bothered by it scattered some rat pellets in the garden or attic, possibly put a trap near it, but that was it. It didn’t really help: sooner or later the rat returned, just like in many other neighbourhoods in Eindhoven North: Acht, Achtse Barrier, De Tempel and Woenselse Heide. These are neighbourhoods that score high on a citywide scale when it comes to rat nuisance. Why precisely there, nobody knows. People are mainly interested in fighting it.
In order to fight the rat more effectively, the residents and the municipality decided to join forces. After a report, a pest control service tracks down the rats and kills them. Residents also receive tailor-made advice on how to make their homes and gardens ratproof. That advice usually comes down to two interventions: removing food (fruit, nuts) from the garden and sealing all cracks in walls through which the rat could worm its way in.
According to Jacques Borsboom of the Blixembosch neighbourhood association, the combined approach is bearing fruit. “We checked on it recently. The number of reports here has decreased significantly”. The rat has not completely disappeared, according to Borsboom, but that is also an illusion. “It has become manageable now”.
The interventions in and around the house are at the expense of the residents or their landlords themselves. The initial detection, clearance and advice is financed by the municipality. Until now, this was done via a trial that ran for the last two years in Blixembosch. But now that its success has been proven, the approach should be implemented city-wide as far as the Eindhoven CDA party is concerned. According to CDA councillor Remco van Dooren, the €75,000 needed for this, were already set aside when the trial in Blixembosch was launched. “All we need to do now is give it a destination”.
That investment and the plea for a city-wide rollout of the rat approach in Blixembosch are on the agenda of the Eindhoven city council on Tuesday night.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
