Malaga councillors debate over rats proliferation control

Malaga city council's environmental committee meeting on Monday saw a clash between the municipal socialist group and the ruling team concerning the pest control in the city.

According to the former, rats are proliferating in Malaga, while the local government denies that. Aside from the predictable exchange of recriminations, the most contentious point came when environment councillor Penélope Gómez stated that residents are feeding rats as if they were cats or pigeons.

Gómez said that total eradication is impossible, although "the infestation has been under control for months now", thanks to the contract with a new company.

"The service is exceeding expectations and delayed requests have been addressed. We are now at 91 per cent completion of the planned actions and have returned to normal," the councillor said.

According to Gómez, there has been a 50 per cent decrease in the number of complaints from residents in recent months. "The situation has improved significantly in 99 per cent of the neighbourhoods," she stated.

Gómez urged residents and local businesses to cooperate by not leaving food out that might attract rats. "It's normal to see a few rats near the beach bars looking for scraps. But the population has been under control for many months. I can say, without a doubt, that we're back to normal," she said.

"I've seen people feeding the rats on the seafront. In Cruz del Humilladero, there was a woman who would feed them and even gave them names. That's impossible to control," Gómez said.

Delegate of the Cruz del Humilladero district Teresa Porras, who was presiding over the session, confirmed the incident and offered to introduce the opposition councillors to the woman. "She goes to the park, sits on a bench with two buckets of soaked bread and rats gather around her."

Porras said that the Local Police had recorded all of this and warned the woman, who suffers from mental health issues, not to do it again.

This statement provoked complaints from the opposition, who criticised Porras for justifying the rodent problem in the neighbourhoods by claiming that some residents feed them.

Socialist councillor Begoña Medina said that the contract for rodent, mosquito and cockroach control launched a year ago, after minimal services had already "led to the proliferation of hundreds of rats". "The sad truth is that nothing has changed and residents still complain: in Dos Hermanas, Las Delicias, Huelin, Santa Paula, Campanillas and Palma-Palmilla," Medina said.

"More oversight of the responsible company is needed and they don't seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation. We can't continue seeing rats in children's playgrounds in our neighbourhoods," the councillor said.

Similarly, Nicolás Sguiglia from the Con Málaga municipal group confirmed, as a resident of the Perchel district recently reported, that Malaga has "pony rats that look like capybaras". He highlighted the experience of another resident, who had a cycling accident after hitting one of these large rodents on the La Misericordia seafront promenade.

"What's more, there are tourists in that area. Do more and, if necessary, allocate more funds. No child deserves to play at a playground like the one in Plaza del Torcal, which is full of rats coming down from the trees. We keep receiving complaints," Sguiglia said.

Vox councillor Yolanda Gómez confirmed that her party keeps receiving complaints from all neighbourhoods. "Despite fighting for a budget increase, we're not seeing results." In her opinion, one of the causes lies in the rodenticides permitted by European regulations, which are making these animals increasingly immune to the poisons.