Rodents annoy residents

Return of the rat plague: “It’s a catastrophe”

The neighbors are fighting back with traps. They are hoping for more support.(Bild: zVg)

After a year and a half break, countless rats are once again keeping the residents of a Viennese suburb on tenterhooks. They are attracted to a property where, curiously, many cats live.

If you're afraid of rats, you should keep a wide berth around a housing estate in a Viennese suburb. Because several dozen of the rodents are up to mischief there. Not for the first time, as Krone readers know. A year and a half ago, countless animals drove the residents to despair.

Back then, they were attracted by a house where a woman kept around 50 cats. According to the official veterinarian, there were no violations of the Animal Welfare Act, but leftover cat food and mountains of garbage outside attracted the rats.

The neighbors are fighting back with traps. They are hoping for more support.(Bild: zVg)

Exterminators and skips
After an exterminator was hired by the local authority and six skips of garbage were removed from the property (the woman had let a deadline pass to remove the garbage herself), there was peace and quiet. But in the meantime, unbearable conditions have returned, as neighbors complain. The result: the rats are back.

This time, however, the residents feel let down by the authorities and the municipality: "We are only referred to the next office." Apart from a letter from the mayor to the woman, in which she was once again given a deadline to rectify the current situation, nothing has happened. "It's a catastrophic situation," says a neighbor.

The mayor, who was not yet in office when the rat infestation first appeared, did not want to comment when asked by Krone. His predecessor had spoken of "a classic case of animal hoarding" in 2023.