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The recent scare of rat invasions because of the closure of the Maghtab and Qortin dumps are being minimised by WasteServ, the company set up to handle Malta’s waste management strategy.
When quizzed by MaltaToday what was being done by WasteServ to confront rat attacks, Ing Chris Ciantar replied: “WasteServ has - following a public call for tenders - entrusted the on-going professional rodent control programme on the three landfills to Messrs. Comtec Service Ltd under the guidance of their technical director and pest control consultant, Mr Ronnie C Galea.”
Ciantar does not believe many rats inhabit the landfills: “Conclusions to date show that even though rodent activity was noted in most areas on the Maghatab and Wied Fulija sites, rodent populations do not seem to be extensive on these sites and even though we may not be in a position to exactly quantify the actual number of rodents, the colonies there seem to be quite limited in number.”
The head of WasteServ’s strategy and development, Ciantar was cautious about predicting the impacts of rats on nearby residents: “It would however be difficult to foresee the impact of rodents on the landfills in relation to neighbours.
“It is a known fact that rodent colonies whether small or large, are present in practically all areas on the Island, whether these are rural or urban. Thus, even though one may tend to conclude that any rodent activity outside and in the vicinity of the landfills is associated with rodent populations on the landfills themselves, is it still very difficult to actually ascertain such a theory.”
The availability of food for the rats at the dumps will not disappear Ciantar told MaltaToday: “It would be pertinent to state that even though officially Maghatab and Il-Qortin landfills are now officially closed, food availability for rodents will not cease.
“First and foremost because, according to experts, throughout their long years of activity there is enough food deposited on these landfills to last the rodents for years to come and secondly waste is still being deposited on a daily basis at both sites, albeit in a controlled manner.”
WasteServ plan to stop the rats from venturing from the landfills: “the primary aim of an on-going Rodent Control
Programme on the sites is not only intended to reduce and control rodents but to actually prevent their migration which might eventually happened, if the rodent problem had not been seriously tackled.”
It would seem that the Gozo dump is more popular with the rats as Ciantar confirmed: “Even though rodent populations at Il-Qortin are indeed larger in number than those present at Maghatab and Wied Fulija, the rodent control programme that has been specifically formulated for this particular site is indeed very aggressive and intense and even though one may state that the infestation is as yet not fully controlled, it is estimated that hundreds of rodents have so far been eradicated.”
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