A video showing at least 10 rats running around outside a shopping mall in the New Territories’ Tseung Kwan O has gone viral on social media.
A man uploaded the video to a Facebook group named “Tseung Kwan O” on Friday after filming the rats on a rubbish bin filled with discarded food containers or leftovers outside Sheung Tak Plaza on Tong Ming Street, news website HK01.com reported.
Others living in the district said they had seen rats inside the mall and complained to the mall’s management. The mall’s management company, Link REIT, said it had hired a pest control company to lay baits as well as take other prevention and control measures.
According to the figures from a rodent infestation survey released by the Food and Environmental Health Department (FEHD) in February, the overall Rodent Infestation Rate (RIR) in the city for the second half of 2017 was 3.5%, comparable to the 3.4% recorded in the first half of the year.
The overall RIR for 2017 was also 3.5%, slightly lower than the 4% recorded in 2016. The department said rodent infestation in public areas in the territory was generally under control.