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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
food to rats. For example, rotten or discarded fruits and meat are disposed of indiscriminately. Consequently, after these shops are closed for the day, these market streets turn into a feeding ground for rats. The most obvious example is Chun Yeung Street. It has become a rats' haunt.
(3) Permanent or temporary refuse collection points under the Council. These places are frequented by rats because there are often garbage bins not properly covered in the markets nearby. The garbage is exposed and before it is removed by refuse collection vehicles, it becomes rats' food. Moreover, litter bins are installed on the pavement originally for the collection of pedestrians' litter but as some of these litter bins are situated in the vicinity of old buildings for which no cleaning workers are hired to remove the garbage, the occupants or commercial tenants of these buildings are used to depositing packs of leftover such as `glutinous rice with chicken' next to the litter bins after dinner or after the shops are closed. They provide delicious dinner for rats, indirectly creating a favourable environment for their survival.
Since the prevailing measures of rat disinfestation and prevention in the urban areas fail to follow up on and are not directed against the problem in the light of the above new circumstances and situation, there is therefore a need to prepare a paper on a comprehensive review aimed at solving the problem in the light of the above actual situation. Rats' haunts have already been shifted from squatter areas to market streets and streets with litter bins containing 'glutinous rice with chicken' in the urban areas. It is exactly these locations that the rodent problem is the most serious. I consider that if we carry out any study, it should be one aimed at solving the problem.
On another level, we discover that the growth of rats is a result of the division of departments. In the areas under the management of the Housing Department and the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, as they do not fall within the ambit of our colleagues in the Urban Services Department, no attention is given to the rodent problem. There is neither any follow-up action nor specific study of the way to handle the problem. Let me cite a well-known example. Last time when there was an outbreak of the avian flu, we visited the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Market under the Agriculture and Fisheries Department. We arrived there and were confronted by a rat. We stared at it, but it did not back off a bit even under the spotlight. Why was it so? The rats nowadays are no longer just three inches or so in length. They measure almost a foot, as large as a shoe. How come they can survive for such a long time in the temporary wholesale poultry market under the AFD at a high rate of reproduction and are so fearless? We consider that it attributes to the division of departments. As the place is not under the management of the USD and they have not tackled the problem with positive efforts, rats run rampant there. The second level is therefore that we must cite examples to illustrate the need for us to conduct studies and take follow-up action in some
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