Success! Reward-for-rats caught scheme at Clementi hawker centre sees reduction in rodent number

SINGAPORE: An unusual way of catching rats has had success at Clementi 448 Market and Food Centre, based on the diminishing number of rodents that have been found recently.

Earlier this month, the reward scheme, which initially only involved stallholders but now includes members of the public, made the news. For the past three years, rat catchers have been paid based on the size of the rodents they’re able to trap. The highest reward prize was once S$100, but it has since been reset to S$50.

In an update on how the scheme has been going, CNA reported recently that the number of rats that have been caught has gone down significantly.

The Clementi Town Shop Owners’ Association is the body behind the successful programme.

CNA noted that for the month of November, only one rat has been caught. In contrast, over 10 used to be caught every single day.

Market chairman Henroy Tan cited the report of Jurong-Clementi-Bukit Batok Town Council to the NEA, which showed that Clementi 448 Market and Food Centre only had one rat caught.

“Over the years, there has been a lot of improvement… the rat cases went down tremendously,” he said.

Moreover, in July, stallholders were paid S$500 for the number of rats they caught. Last month, the amount had gone down to S$240, or less than half.

Proper rat disposal

Aside from the stallholders and the show owners’ association, the town council has also played a significant part in the scheme, especially since authorities issued a reminder on Nov 12 regarding the proper disposal of rats. In other words, the caught rats should be turned over to a licensed pet control group to be disposed of, and the ones who caught them should not do it themselves.

Of course, hiring a separate pest control service means an additional cost. However, the town council, which oversees Clementi 448 Market and Food Centre, has taken over the disposal of rats and provides the service at no additional cost, CNA added.

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. /TISG

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