Unlikely ‘visitors’ to downtown Athens’ Syntagma Square have flooded Greek social media in recent days, drawing concern from residents and fueling criticism of the city’s mayor—packs of rats.
A podcast by Greek To Vima Today explores the issue, interviewing a witness to the phenomenon and also the Chief Editor of To Vima Science.
Speaing to To Vima Today, a man relates, “I was in Syntagma in the morning and there was a ‘party’. The area that had just been cleaned by the municipality had water in different areas, including the grass. Rats were emerging from different holes around trees, and from drains and were playing happily. They were drinking water from puddles and from bowls for stray animals. It was unbeleivable.”
Other social media posts highlight that it’s not just Syntagma but several other parts of Athens that are seeing a large number of rats. In recent weeks, these sightings have given the mayor’s opponents and rival political parties ammunition to accuse him of allowing the capital to sink into filth.
The topic even featured in last night’s televised debate among political candidates vying for the presidency of the key opposition party PASOK.
The Rats
Providing scientific context to the phenomenon, Chief Editor of To Vima Science, Ioanna Soufleri, explains that the rats are none other than the common brown rat, also known as the sewer rat, with the scientific name Rattus norvegicus.
Soufleri also encouraged calm, reminding listeners of the podcast that the brown rat is the most widespread rat species in Greece and many other parts of the world.
Brown rats are larger and more robust than other species and are commonly found in urban and suburban areas, especially near water sources.
“The rats are always there, wherever there are people,” says Soufleri. In this case, however, the rats are exhibiting unusual behavior. “Usually, our paths don’t intersect because we live above the land, and they live underneath the earth, coming out at night to hunt for food.”
The Reason
In the case of Syntagma, the phenomenon is striking because the rats are coming out during the day to play, despite the presence of people.
According to municipal authorities, who were recently queried on the matter by the press, the rats have been disturbed by cleaning and metro construction works.
Soufleri told To Vima Today that this is only a partial explanation. The fuller picture is related to Greece’s summer tourist season, where there is a ton of trash overflowing from bins on the street, providing plenty of food for rats. A lot of food means that rat populations can reproduce and multiply rapidly.
The Concerns
First of all, Soufleri calls for calm. Second, she stresses that a solution needs to be found due to the public health risks posed by rats and the damage they can cause to biodiversity and the subterranean environment.
“Rats, as we know, are key carriers of many diseases,” reminds Soufleri, citing the infamous bubonic plague. Moreover, rat populations eat the eggs of many species and have been known to negatively impact biodiversity and specific species in other countries.
In extreme cases, rats dig burrows under the earth that can even kill-off trees and negatively impact fauna.
