Rat-catching reward scheme at Clementi hawker centre; catchers got up to S$100

SINGAPORE: A rat-catching reward scheme was launched to raise hygiene standards at Clementi 448 Market and Food Centre—stall holders could once get as much as S$100 for especially large rodents.

The Clementi Town Shop-Owners’ Association launched the scheme so that the population of rats in the area would decrease, Shin Min Daily News recently reported.

The scheme has been in place for three years, said Patrick Sze Chong Ee, the association’s honorary president. He clarified that it was started to build a sense of teamwork among the hawker centre’s vendors, rather than to motivate them to profit from the number of rats they caught.

However, the scheme has undergone changes since it was started, as members of the public may now catch rats as well, but the maximum reward they can get has been lowered to S$50.

Rats are a long-standing problem in hawker centres, given the availability of food waste. This is, of course, an issue not just in Singapore, but one that persists in other major cities around the world, such as New York, London, and Rome.

In 2024, pest control companies told TODAY that rat infestation cases had increased by 15% to 20% over the past year. Little wonder, then, that new solutions are needed to address the problem.

Biggest catch

Mr Sze told Shin Min Daily News that the largest rat that has been caught weighed nearly 1 kilo. The association shared photos of the rats caught by vendors with the Chinese-language daily.

Stall holders confirmed that the rat problem is real at the hawker centre, saying that the rodents are especially active at night and that their droppings give vendors more work, since they need to be cleaned up carefully.

For example, in July, people caught 15 rats, and the association paid S$305 to the catchers. In August, there were 27 rats caught, and the catchers received $520 in rewards.

Last month, this number went down to 21 rats caught, with a total payout of S$240 to catchers.

Shin Min Daily News reported that the rat situation at Clementi 448 Market and Food Centre has improved since the scheme was launched.

“There are fewer and fewer rats now. Everyone has been working together to create a cleaner dining environment,” said Mr Sze.

Aside from improvements to hygiene, there are rat-catching methods in place at the hawker centre, including rat traps and cages. /TISG

Read also: Diners complain about finding rats inside sauce containers at a self-service instant noodle shop, says it is a ‘hygiene issue’