Inside NEA's fight against rats: Thermal cameras, AI and 24/7 monitoring

Smell a rat? Hopefully not.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has reported a 40 per cent decline in rat burrows in the first four months of 2026, as the agency steps up enforcement and surveillance efforts across Singapore.

NEA has doubled down on rat enforcement in recent years, leveraging new surveillance technologies and tapping into new tools, such as artificial intelligence, to improve its operations.

According to NEA's two-monthly surveillance, the average number of rat burrows detected per cycle fell from about 4,900 in 2025 to about 2,900 in the January-February and March-April 2026 surveillance cycles.

The majority of burrows were found in public housing estates, followed by grass verges along roadsides and industrial estates.

AsiaOne spoke to NEA officers on the ground to better understand Singapore's rat problem and the measures the agency has been taking to tackle it.

Senior Executive Faizal Hamzah from NEA's Sanitation and Vector Control Branch explained how rats possess exceptional survival skills.

"Rats are good at finding what they need to survive," Hamzah stated.

The resourceful creatures thrive where food, shelter and water are readily available. 

The 45-year-old added that rats are also highly adaptable. 

"They use the drains, false ceilings and building structures to move around, making them difficult to contain," said Hamzah.

Small lapses in refuse management, such as the improper disposal of food waste or food left behind in public areas, can create ideal conditions for rats to establish themselves and multiply, he added.

To clamp down on rat infestations in Singapore, NEA adopts a multi-pronged approach that combines enforcement, active surveillance and stakeholder engagement. The agency has also introduced new technologies to strengthen rat detection and monitoring efforts across Singapore.

Thermal cameras 

Among the tools deployed are thermal cameras, which can discreetly monitor areas without disturbing or alerting rats, which are known to be neophobic, or fearful of new things.

These cameras can not only capture clear thermal images of rats in low-light conditions, but also map out their movement patterns and areas of congregation. 

NEA officially introduced these cameras into its suite of surveillance technologies in 2025 after its successful trial run at the back lanes of two hotspots — Buffalo Road and Telok Ayer Street, according to the agency's press release on Feb 14, 2025.

Passive infra-red cameras 

Alongside thermal cameras, passive infra-red (PIR) cameras also provide continuous 24-hour monitoring.

Goh Jong Ching, Assistant Manager of NEA's Rat Control Section, told AsiaOne that the PIR cameras are motion-activated and run autonomously, capturing photos and videos of rat activity around the clock.

"Whenever an object passes by the camera, it will sense the moving object [and be] automatically triggered," explained Goh.

Boom pole cameras and videoscopes

NEA also uses videoscopes and boom pole cameras to enhance inspections.

Boom pole cameras allow officers to inspect hard-to-reach areas such as above refuse compactors.

Goh likened the tool to a "selfie stick", with a mounted camera that can be extended up to five metres high.

Videoscopes, meanwhile, allow officers to inspect narrow spaces like burrows and crevices. 

Enhanced inspections, smarter detection

These tools allow NEA officers to monitor rat activity continuously and more comprehensively, as traditional inspections are limited to the time of inspection and the officers' plain observations.

NEA is also exploring video analytics to improve the accuracy of detecting rat activity and reduce reliance on manual review of footage.

"We are trying to develop a video analytics and AI tool to help automate this process and auto-detect these images [of rats] so that officers do not have to spend hours manually filtering out the images," said Goh.

These tools also provide stakeholders with targeted intervention measures to remove any presence of rats and prevent reinfestation, such as by identifying structures used by rats and removing them to prevent access to food or areas of harbourage.  

Goh added that this allows the agency to shift from a reactive approach to one that is more proactive, targeted and evidence-based.

"We can identify the rat hotspots and conduct early intervention to prevent the area from becoming rat-infested," he said. 

@asiaone AsiaOne followed National Environment Agency (NEA) officers as they showed us how they tackle rat infestations in Singapore. 🐀 From boom poles to thermal cameras, to AI‑powered analysis, here’s how they monitor and manage the critters. #sgnews #Singapore #NEA #Rats #Pests ♬ original sound - AsiaOne

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laili.abdeen@asiaone.com