By KHT Staff
KAOHSIUNG — A Kaohsiung city councilor is calling for stronger rodent control measures in public parks after presenting videos she said showed rats feeding in trash bins and moving through several green spaces across the city.
City Councilor Hsu Tsai-chen (許采蓁) said she had recently received complaints from residents about poor sanitation and rat problems in some parks. She said visits to multiple sites found exposed garbage, food waste, and signs of rodent activity.
Hsu pointed in particular to Wujia Park (五甲公園) in Cianjhen District (前鎮), where she said a bicycle parking area had become piled with garbage that had reportedly been left there for more than three days. She said rats had torn open plastic bags, leaving trash scattered across the ground.
She also cited Sanmin Park (三民公園), where, in one video shown, she said four rats could be seen feeding inside an uncovered trash bin surrounded by leftover food and drink cups.
Hsu said the problem was being driven by easy access to food and by exposed garbage. She urged the city government to add parks to its priority pest-control areas, improve trash collection and management at hotspots, and consider adopting covered garbage containers similar to those used in other cities to reduce food access for rodents.
Hsu said her aim was not to politicize the issue, but to push the city to respond with concrete action. She warned that prolonged sanitation problems could raise public health concerns, including anxiety over diseases such as hantavirus.
