Multiple rats were caught on camera feasting at an overflowing garbage can in Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency (GRC) – the ward Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself heads. The video appears to have been recorded last month.
In a video that was published on YouTube on Monday (6 May), at least four rats were seen surrounding a green trash can. The trash can was so full that the garbage was overflowing. There were bags of garbage and food waste littering the ground beside the trash can, as well.
As the person recording the video approached the trash can, the rats fled and one squeezed itself into the sewer grate beside the can:
The issue of rat infestation in Singapore came to the fore recently in February this year, when Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah complained about a rat infestation in her ward.
The PAP politician then lamented on the presence of “big, big rats” running and “dancing about” in her ward and blamed the cat-feeders in the community for giving rise to such pests that consume the food that it set out for the cats. Lee emphatically stated:
“It is good to have harmonious co-existence with animals but we need to strike a balance. We need to consider the safety of our residents first.”
Lee said that she activated the town council, the National Environment Agency and the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) to form a “Rats Task Force”. Lee said that when she found out that the “root cause” of the rats presence are cat-feeders who leave food out, she asked NEA to act but they could not.
Lee said: “I asked NEA to act. They said, ‘cannot. There was a agreement by NEA and Cats Society [sic] to leave food there for two hours.’” She added: “So…how to solve the rat issue?”
Several Singaporeans blasted Lee for advocating action against community cats and cat-feeders instead of addressing the root cause of littering that gives rise to rats.
Parliamentarians, however, seemed less concerned. Lee’s complaints about the rats, cat-feeders and a snake a resident had complained about had several MPs, including PM Lee, in splits.-/TISG
https://theindependent.sg.sg/lee-bee-wah-draws-flak-even-though-she-has-both-pap-and-wp-mps-in-splits-with-her-complaints-about-snakes-rats-and-cat-feeders/
https://theindependent.sg.sg/lee-bee-wahs-own-resident-points-out-that-rat-problems-in-the-area-is-from-human-littering-not-cat-food/