More than half of the rat control operations in the City of Brussels take place in the Laeken district, said city councillor for Cleanliness Anas Ben Abdelmoumen (PS) on Wednesday.
The City of Brussels is the largest municipality in the Capital Region, with a complex geography: it includes the area within the Small Ring Road (Pentagon/Vijfhoek), but also the districts of Laeken, Neder-Over-Heembeek, Haren, the Northern Quarter, the Louise district and the areas around the EU institutions.
Laeken accounts for 52% of all rat interventions since January 2025, followed by the Pentagon district (16.3%), Neder-Over-Heembeek (12.3%), the Northern Quarter (9.2%), Haren (4.7%) and the Ambiorix district (3.1%).
The European Quarter and the Louise Quarter have the fewest rats and therefore also the lowest number of interventions, at 1.5% and 1.1%, respectively.
Of the 1,135 actions carried out, 951 involved inspections, such as replacing poison or opening traps. In 184 cases, these were new extermination actions, where a new trap or poison was placed.
Smart traps
Since the end of the summer months, the city has also been using "smart rat traps," which cost approximately €700 each. Brussels ordered seven of these, three of which are already in use. Together, they have already caught 121 rats.
The city has increased its rat control budget to €65,000 per year. It is also exploring the possible purchase of additional "digital rat traps," connected to the internet, which can be used via an application to check whether a trap has caught a rat. The city expects this data to better reveal the migration flows of Brussels rats within the Capital Region.
"Rats will always be present in major cities," said Ben Abdelmoumen. "They are part of the city's biodiversity and play a role in processing food waste. The problem is the overpopulation of rats, as they reproduce very quickly."
Rats cause nuisance and a sense of insecurity, he stressed. "Our goal is to combat this nuisance and limit the material damage caused by rats. We will never be able to eradicate all the rats at once; it is important to contain the overpopulation."
The City of Brussels is also counting on the goodwill and individual actions of citizens to achieve this. "We perpetuate the rat problem ourselves, for example, by tourists leaving food scraps on the streets. The hospitality industry, tourists, and Brussels residents can help solve the problem proactively by reducing litter."
