ROME -- Municipal officials battling a new plague of millions of rats infesting the Eternal City will crack down on old ladies who leave traditionally food in the streets for stray cats they adopt, officials said Thursday.  The new measures are part of an anti-rodent package that unpopular special commissioner for Rome Francesco Tronca has set as his top priority after a half-hearted attempt to investigate the scandal of well-connected Romans living in city-owned apartments for peppercorn rents.

 Below our feet in Italy’s historical capital there are six million rats, that’s around two for every inhabitant of the city, give or take a rat or two.  Recently the age-old problem of rodents that roam the streets of this city, especially in places where they are likely to find titbits, such as nurseries, kindergarten and primary schools, has again become a topical subject.   

 Tronca, has put together an investigative team, with representatives of Campidoglio, AMA waste disposal company, and the Ministries of Health and Environment, to address this issue.  “I decided to take this battle seriously, knowing that I will not have the necessary time to win it.  But I still want to leave a well-established method,” explained Tronca.

 The news comes after a ticket office in the Colloseum had to close on Wednesday after blood starting dripping from the ceiling, which was discovered to be due to a rat that had been crushed in a cavity of the ceiling.  The Superintendent of Archaelogical Heritage spoke out on the matter stating, "it's a problem that we can no longer cope with."

 Some inconsistencies have also emerged, however, for example the fact that in the past few years not every municipality has spent the funds available to them for de-ratting, as provided by the AMA.  Or, if they have used it, much has often been poorly spent without a budget plan.  In recent years the municipalities, after receiving reports of rats from their citizens, because their de-ratting money had been wasted, turned to AMA to sort it out.  The waste disposal company has not worked well since the arrest last year of their top managers in the Mafia Capital scandal on charges of colluding with organised crime.

 The first action that the new team will put in place is to hit those who leave food on the street, as often it serves to feed not only the stray cats who were their intention, but also the ravenous rats who crowd Rome’s sewers instead.  Not only these however, but also restaurants and citizens who don’t sort their rubbish correctly, and leave the food waste bag on the street at the wrong time.  Otherwise, it is also AMA who needs to do their part, not skipping steps and ensuring that the bins are emptied on time.

 The direction the city must head in is an enhancement of rodent control services with targeted and specific objectives, including in particular; the banks and docks of the Tiber, schools, kindergartens, canteens, hospitals, and other social sites.  It’s for this that AMA, the Department of Environmental Protection of Rome, and the municipalities would monitor priority areas, for which a mapping of the places most infested with rodents has already begun.

 Regarding rubbish, the local police of Roma Capitale must also lend their support to surpressing the typical Roman sight of cars that are double parked in front of the bins, preventing AMA from regularly emptying them.  The municipal agency has said that “around three thousand of the 70 thousand bins, are in fact unable to be accessed by the company at night.”

 Spurred on by Tronca, AMA has increased its rodent control efforts in the past couple of weeks, scattering some areas in the centre with bait.  It seems that these ‘norvegica’ rats, rather than being attracted by cheese, are particularly fond of sweet flavours, such as vanilla and chocolate.

 The battle against these capital rats is (and always will be) a tough one, with the number of sightings in public and private places that have never been affected before multiplying hugely.  They are fearless, and rampant in their wanderings, with some people even reporting seeing them enter a crowded restaurant at lunchtime directly through the front door, with others finding them coming out of their sewage pipes into their homes – as a result the Commune warns that you are strongly advised not to leave the lid up.

 The agency advises that if you find a rodent in the house, it’s best to turn to official de-ratting companies, or for a mouse simply set a trap.  For anyone wanting shivers down their spine, take a stroll on the banks of the Tiber at dusk and swarms of rats can be seen swimming.  The appearance of a colony of rats swimming in the fountains is not a rare one either.

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