If there is a lot of waste available to rats, their number increases more drastically. In July, rats were observed in S-market in Helsinki.
Number of rats has been growing in Helsinki for years, says the University of Oulu PhD student Tuomas Aivelo.
“The number of rats varies a lot in time and place. Sometimes the number is low somewhere.”
HS said on Friday that Helsinki Rats have been seen in Ympyrätalo’s S-market. According to Aivelo, the number of rats in the central area of Helsinki is permanently quite high, because there is a lot of food for rats there.
“The risk of rats is mainly the huge breeding potential.”
According to Aivelo, rats have a division of labor. One rat can’t do much yet, but a colony of rats has more power. A single rat, for example, most often cannot get through the waste container. When there are more of them, the situation is different.
“When one can’t bear to grind, the other continues.”
Rats there are two major reasons for the increase in number, the first of which is climate change.
Harser winters restrain the rat population, so the warming of winters does not inoculate rat numbers as much.
Another reason is the dysfunctional circular economy.
“The rat is an indicator species of the circular economy: where there are rats, the circular economy does not work.”
If there is a lot of food available for rats, i.e. waste, their number increases more drastically. However, Aivelo points out that when open dumps still existed, they had “huge rat densities”. Although the number of rats is increasing now, it has also decreased over the course of history.
How can the swelling of rat populations be controlled?
Aivelo quotes an environmental policy researcher Nina Nygrenwho has stated that “rat control is human control”.
It is therefore essential that the rats do not end up with food – that is, waste. This helps, for example, by not littering and not throwing food down the drain. Patching holes in properties and building more durable waste canopies are also ways to curb the number of rats.
Aivelo does not dare to estimate the number of rats in Helsinki very precisely.
“Probably some five-digit number. But when they say there are as many rats as people, I don’t think there are.”
Single a rat is often a fairly harmless guest, wherever it may be.
Aivelo tells about an incident a few years ago, where an attempt was made to lure a rat that had been living there for six months from a grocery store in Helsinki. It had a nest near the compressor because the place was warm. Every night after closing time, the rat went on a trip to get food from the store floors.
When encountering a single rat, it is important to find out where it came from, in order to ensure that more rodents do not find the place.
“Having been in the store for half a year had to have quite an adventure. There was no reason to doubt that more rats would find the same route [kauppaan].”
“Of course, if there are a lot of rats, you have to deal with it.”
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