A back alley next to a shopping mall in Hung Hom's Baker Circle has been filmed with a large number of rats, with the rodents seen just a window away from a chain restaurant where diners were eating.
A netizen uploaded footage on Monday showing the alley next to a chain restaurant at 1 Whampoa Street, with more than a dozen rats moving across the ground, some near drains and others around clutter. The restaurant next door was brightly lit with diners inside, some with their backs to the alley, apparently unaware.
The alley is next to a construction site with hoarding, and a trolley and two blue plastic buckets were placed there. It was unclear whether the buckets contained food scraps or why the rats had gathered.
Another netizen posted footage filmed from inside the restaurant, saying they saw rats in the alley while dining and worried they might enter the restaurant.
District councillor Lam Tak-shing inspected the site on Tuesday with the FEHD, mall management and property management representatives, asking the mall operator to step up patrols of passages, back alleys, refuse rooms and drains, conduct regular rodent control and manage waste properly.
Lam said residents had reported rats in the alley next to the Baker Circle restaurant, a long-established eatery with heavy foot traffic serving residents, office workers and takeaway customers. He said the rat problem posed a major hidden risk to public health, food safety and the district's hygiene image.
After verifying the situation on site, he proposed a series of improvements, including requiring the mall operator to implement floor-level patrol duties and clearly identify public passages, back alleys, refuse rooms and drains as rodent black spots. He also asked the FEHD to conduct a comprehensive hygiene inspection of all restaurants in Baker Circle and clean up hygiene black spots in the district.
