Brussels to introduce ‘smart’ rat traps to safely curb city’s rodent problem

Brussels is stepping up its offensive against the city’s rodent population following a pilot project using smart, digitally controlled rat traps.

Ten traps are currently in place around the Atomium and in the De Wand district of Laeken, reports Bruzz.

Since the beginning of February, 250 rats have already been caught, says the city in a press statement. It created a Rat Control Working Group to step up its efforts in the fight against rodent nuisance in 2025.

The new high-tech traps consist of black boxes containing bait to attract the rats. The traps recognise and analyse the behaviour of the rodent and determine the ideal capture moment based on this data.

A flap opens and the rats fall into a liquid in which they drown within one to two minutes. This means them are immediately caught inside the box instead of ending up in public spaces.

The technology also benefits from not using any poison and therefore poses no danger to public health or other animals.

Employees of the city’s sanitary service receive real-time notification of catches via an app, enabling them to know exactly when to empty the boxes. The data also helps the authorities to map the rat problem per neighbourhood.

Female rats can produce up to 80 offspring per year. The 250 captured rats therefore represent a potential population of several thousand future rodents.

These new smart tramps are also employed in major cities such as Paris and New York, as well as in Flemish municipalities and cities. For Brussels, however, this is a first following a surge in the capital’s rat population over the past few years.

“With these traps, we are shifting up a gear in the fight against pests. A major advantage of these traps is that the carcasses do not end up in public spaces, an image that does not fit the capital of our country and Europe,” said alderman for public cleanliness Anas Ben Abdelmoumen (PS).

“In the coming months, we will expand the number of smart traps and deploy them in the other districts of our city as well,” he added.

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