Since when has the BEST PAID govt in the world not wait till funeral is over then wayang and point fingers back at Sporns? Is this the kind of govt Sporns want and pay TOP DOLLARS for?
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>April 10, 2009
INDIAN ROJAK POISONING
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Operation rat-trap
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Pest controllers get rid of 61 rats; wet market may be source of infestation </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Judith Tan
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Although many rats were caught overnight, the infestation is far from over, with one pest expert suggesting this is just 'the tip of the iceberg' and that only the weaker rats were trapped. -- PHOTOS: SHIN MIN DAILY
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View more photos
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->RATS were writhing on pieces of cardboard laid out between stalls at the Geylang Serai Temporary Market when pest controllers got there yesterday morning.
Rows of them were stuck in the green glue, part of traps laid out the night before, in an effort to clean up the temporary structure, now infamous for the Indian rojak stall which is the focal point of Singapore's worst outbreak of food poisoning.
By noon, pest controllers had removed 61 rats, said Mr Kwok Kim Poh, who oversees the day-to-day running of the market for its management committee.
He said the glue strips were laid out along the stalls 'most popular with the rats', which included fresh vegetables and fruit stalls as well as food stalls like the Indian rojak unit, after cleaning stopped at 7pm on Wednesday.
Compared to past efforts to bait rats, this was a more effective method of trapping the rodents, he said.
Whether the rats have a role in the food poisoning that has affected at least 154 victims since last Friday and caused two deaths is uncertain. :oIo:
Preliminary investigations traced the source to a type of bacteria which attacks raw or partially cooked seafood, such as the prawn and cuttlefish items served in Indian rojak.
The rodent infestation appears to be concentrated in a wet market situated next to the hawker centre. The rats are said to have come from the sewers running under the temporary market.
'Unlike rats in other areas, the fur on the rats here is constantly wet and patchy. This shows they live in the sewers,' Mr Kwok said.
Stallholder Aminah Ali, 38, complained that the rats crawl under the tarpaulin and canvas covers and get into the baskets where vegetables are kept.
Other stallholders said that because the cleaners do not work after 7pm, plates with leftover food are left at the centre overnight - drawing the rats.
Direct contact with the rats or their urine and droppings can cause Weil's Disease. This starts with influenza-like symptoms and can end in kidney failure.
Mr Ahmad S. Said, president of the Geylang Serai Traders' Association, said he had raised the matter of rat and roach infestations with the National Environment Agency in March last year.
'I even went as far as suggesting they put rat-trapping infrastructure in the new Geylang Serai market,' he said. The new market will be ready towards the end of the year.
The Geylang Serai Temporary Market has 396 stalls, all with hygiene gradings of Bs and Cs. The last time the market, set up three years ago, underwent a spring-cleaning was in October last year.
Mr Kwok said cleaners wash the centre once a week. Each day, seven to eight cleaners work at the centre. He added that a new pest control company - Star Pest Control - has been brought in to help. 'We are now seeing results with this company. Its men are actively trapping the rats with the glue traps. I believe we will be able to control the population soon,' he said.
But Mr Carl Baptista, director of Origin Exterminators, said the number of rats caught is 'just the tip of the iceberg'.
'They might have trapped the weaker ones but not the alpha rats. Rats are very clever creatures. When a large number of their compatriots are caught, they would come by to sniff and familiarise themselves with the smell. The next time they would know to avoid the glue strip.'
Exterminators currently use bait laced with anti-coagulant that causes the rats to die from excessive bleeding days after consuming it.
'The rat will die from an external cut or a bone splinter. This way the other rats cannot tell what killed it,' he said. [email protected]
Yaacob Ibrahim
雅国
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>April 10, 2009
INDIAN ROJAK POISONING
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Operation rat-trap
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Pest controllers get rid of 61 rats; wet market may be source of infestation </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Judith Tan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Although many rats were caught overnight, the infestation is far from over, with one pest expert suggesting this is just 'the tip of the iceberg' and that only the weaker rats were trapped. -- PHOTOS: SHIN MIN DAILY
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->RATS were writhing on pieces of cardboard laid out between stalls at the Geylang Serai Temporary Market when pest controllers got there yesterday morning.
Rows of them were stuck in the green glue, part of traps laid out the night before, in an effort to clean up the temporary structure, now infamous for the Indian rojak stall which is the focal point of Singapore's worst outbreak of food poisoning.
By noon, pest controllers had removed 61 rats, said Mr Kwok Kim Poh, who oversees the day-to-day running of the market for its management committee.
He said the glue strips were laid out along the stalls 'most popular with the rats', which included fresh vegetables and fruit stalls as well as food stalls like the Indian rojak unit, after cleaning stopped at 7pm on Wednesday.
Compared to past efforts to bait rats, this was a more effective method of trapping the rodents, he said.
Whether the rats have a role in the food poisoning that has affected at least 154 victims since last Friday and caused two deaths is uncertain. :oIo:
Preliminary investigations traced the source to a type of bacteria which attacks raw or partially cooked seafood, such as the prawn and cuttlefish items served in Indian rojak.
The rodent infestation appears to be concentrated in a wet market situated next to the hawker centre. The rats are said to have come from the sewers running under the temporary market.
'Unlike rats in other areas, the fur on the rats here is constantly wet and patchy. This shows they live in the sewers,' Mr Kwok said.
Stallholder Aminah Ali, 38, complained that the rats crawl under the tarpaulin and canvas covers and get into the baskets where vegetables are kept.
Other stallholders said that because the cleaners do not work after 7pm, plates with leftover food are left at the centre overnight - drawing the rats.
Direct contact with the rats or their urine and droppings can cause Weil's Disease. This starts with influenza-like symptoms and can end in kidney failure.
Mr Ahmad S. Said, president of the Geylang Serai Traders' Association, said he had raised the matter of rat and roach infestations with the National Environment Agency in March last year.
'I even went as far as suggesting they put rat-trapping infrastructure in the new Geylang Serai market,' he said. The new market will be ready towards the end of the year.
The Geylang Serai Temporary Market has 396 stalls, all with hygiene gradings of Bs and Cs. The last time the market, set up three years ago, underwent a spring-cleaning was in October last year.
Mr Kwok said cleaners wash the centre once a week. Each day, seven to eight cleaners work at the centre. He added that a new pest control company - Star Pest Control - has been brought in to help. 'We are now seeing results with this company. Its men are actively trapping the rats with the glue traps. I believe we will be able to control the population soon,' he said.
But Mr Carl Baptista, director of Origin Exterminators, said the number of rats caught is 'just the tip of the iceberg'.
'They might have trapped the weaker ones but not the alpha rats. Rats are very clever creatures. When a large number of their compatriots are caught, they would come by to sniff and familiarise themselves with the smell. The next time they would know to avoid the glue strip.'
Exterminators currently use bait laced with anti-coagulant that causes the rats to die from excessive bleeding days after consuming it.
'The rat will die from an external cut or a bone splinter. This way the other rats cannot tell what killed it,' he said. [email protected]
Yaacob Ibrahim
雅国
