Given that the primary effort to control the rat population is the use of poison and bait boxes, will the
Honourable Minister please inform this Honourable House as to whether the Ministry, perhaps through
the Department of Environment and National Resources, has studied or considered other methods for
better control of the rat and rodent pest problem, such as sterilization instead of poison and/or a controlled
increase of the Barne Owl population, a natural predator of rodents?
Rats are addressed by the Vermin Control Team who operate under the Environmental Health section of the
Ministry of Health and not under the Ministry of Public Works and Environment. Those Ministry of Health
personnel would be best placed to advise on estimated rat populations and alternative control mechanisms.