Due to a new governmental policy banning farmers and citizens from using chemical pesticides, the Netherlands could face an unprecedented plague of rats and mice in a few years’ time, according to the Dutch Pest & Wildlife Expertise Centre (KAD).

No more rat poison

Rat and mice poison will no longer be allowed to be used freely from 2023. The Dutch Board for the Authorisation of Plant Protection Products and Biocides (Ctgb) has deemed that it harms bird of prey, with a spokesperson explaining that they are simply implementing European regulation. Spreading poison outside is already banned, but from 2023 even using poison pellets indoors will not be allowed.

If you have a rodent problem, you’ll still be allowed to use traps, but only professionals will be allowed to work with poison. “This will be a much bigger calamity than the oak processionary caterpillar […] unfortunately, people will only realise it when they see rats and mice running over the street”, says KAD director Bastiaan Meerburg.

Increasing rodent populations in the Netherlands

According to pest controller Rentokil, the populations of rats and mice in the Netherlands are growing. The poison situation is not the only thing contributing to this, “It is also due to the mild winters. And the fact that people eat on the street more often and drop bits of food doesn’t help”, a manager at the company expresses.