Bucharest Plagued By Rats
BUCHAREST, Romania - Rats, rats everywhere. Caught in the beam of a car's headlights, scuttling into the hole next to the elevator and into overflowing garbage cans.
While officials admit a 1-to-1 ratio of rats to people in Bucharest - about 2 million of each - much higher figures, like 5-to-1, are being bandied about town.
In the past year, about 10 percent of the capital's food stores have been laid waste by rats, and a rising incidence of rat-related illnesses has been recorded.
"We are in a constant battle," said Ionel Robita, of the state company charged with rubbish collection and pest control.
He said that under the Ceaucescu regime and Communism, there had been no money to take on the rats. "It took Budapest 10 years to get their rat problem under control," he said. "We've only had a couple of years."
In November 1990 the city's mayor approached Robita with complaints that rats were managing to conquer even the highest floors of the capital's decaying apartment building. Now most housing is "de-ratted" twice a year at a minimal cost to each resident. Detached houses and commercial premises, however, don't qualify for this service.
The rodent-population explosion is a fringe drawback of the chaotic switch to a market economy. The arrival of privately owned shops, selling packaged imported goods has produced much more waste than in Ceaucescu's day.