Stray dogs seen eating rats at Bukit Batok
PUBLISHED ONDecember 24, 2014 2:39 AM
Dog lovers have rebutted authorities, saying that the recent rats infestation near Bukit Batok MRT station was not caused by feeding stray dogs.
In a joint statement released on Thursday by the Housing Development Board (HDB), the National Environment Agency (NEA), the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA), and Jurong Town Council, it was suggested that the infestation was caused leftover food after feeding the strays in the area.
A Stomp reader alerted the citizen journalism website to a video posted by Facebook user Karen Koh, in which stray puppies were seen feasting on the rats.
The Facebook description pleads the case for the strays, saying that they have barely enough food to eat and have always finished what they were given.
In fact, they were so hungry they would eat the rats and help control the pest population.
Karen says in the video caption: "I feed the BB Strays whenever I pass by, i can only say that they were so hungry they wiped out the food in less than 1 min.
"They fight over food for survival, you can see in the video that the younger puppies or weaker ones will usually lose out and had to eat rats instead.
"How can they say that the strays are leaving food rubbish and caused the infestation of rats?? They don't even have enough food to eat! They're all starving!!
"In fact the strays are helping to eat up the rats!
"It is clear that the rats started to outnumber the strays because the strays were all caught and taken away."
She also clarified that there was no leftover food when she fed them and cleared the paper bases.
Last week, several commuters and Stomp readers spotted more than 30 rats scurrying about the grass patch next to the Bukit Batok MRT station.
Authorities had said, "Rodents will proliferate whenever food sources are available, due to improper disposal of food or leftovers from the feeding of strays. Rodent control measures will fail as long as the root cause is not resolved."
Star Pest Control deployed about 22 men were deployed to the area on Thursday, Dec 18, armed with rat traps and poison to clear the infestation.
The Facebook video was taken before rats were poisoned, thus the dogs were in no harm.
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