Because the problems caused by the proliferation of rats in the Netherlands will continue to worsen considerably in the coming years, according to Bastiaan Meerburg, a researcher at Wageningen University, a large-scale study into the behavior of these rodents, so that a potential plague can be effectively avoided:
“I expect that the rat plague will really get a lot worse“, he said to the newspaper. “In Nijmegen and also in a number of other places you already see many rats. It is increasingly leading to problems.” Wageningen University expects that it will take several years to research how and where rats are moving, necessary to gain insight into exactly what municipalities can do to combat rats.
There are multiple reasons for the increase in rat populations in the country. “The Netherlands is increasingly densely populated and the cleanliness of the 60s and 70s is declining“, Meerburg said.
A denser population means more waste, and where there’s waste, there are rats. “In addition, municipalities are investing less and less in maintaining the outdoor space.