Happier Abroad Forum Community

The government of Jakarta is offering money for live rats to deal with the city's rodent infestation. The rats should be live to prevent people shooting or poisoning them which could be dangerous to residents. In the past similar schemes have been introduced for cobras in Delhi and rats in Hanoi - both with disastrous consequences as locals started breeding these animals to reap financial reward. Have a read of the article:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016 ... -live-rats

I counted 12 once in the drainage ditches walking home from my now-wife's boarding house after dropping her off when we were dating way back when in Jakarta.

If there are no rats, what is going to eat whatever garbage they are eating in the ditches? I don't think the stray cats will be as useful. I don't think the cats eat those rats unless they are babies, maybe. The rats might eat the cats.

Mr. Man where do you live in Jakarta? No need to give exact location, just a general idea. I never really got the deal with the cats there. They hard weird half tails for starters. They weren't exactly pets but people seemed to tolerate them wandering around restaurants and sleeping on baskets of rice in the market etc...perhaps it is felt that they control the rats? Where else have you travelled in Indo...and where do you like?

"Cats are great hunters, for sure. But there's a misbelief that cats are the no. 1 solution for mice and rats scenarios. Those furry friends may cause even more harm than rats, just purging all the rodents and birds, they also can be disease carriers just like mice do. It is true, that rats may actually hunt and eat cats as well.
I think you should just stick to classical methods of dealing with those rodents, just like this article advice. Mouse traps, chemical and sonic repellants really will control those pets, not the government bills like mentioned above."