Disgust is written all over the passer-by’s face. “It’s really incredible that it always has to look so antisocial here,” she scolds, kicking empty pizza boxes and plastic packaging aside. Her gaze falls on four open garbage cans from which leftovers are pouring. Behind it, junk is stacked up to the roof. Animals have also been attracted by the unsanitary conditions that can be seen from the street: You don’t need a lot of patience to see rats scurrying through the narrow backyard between the garbage cans and the neighboring house.
The place that the lady is so upset about is a house directly on Am Knie in Pasing, at Landsberger Straße 449. The Rotana restaurant is in the front – a snack bar that serves kebabs, falafel and Dürüm. There is a shisha bar on the floor below, but it has been closed for six months. And at the back there is the Pension Atlas, in which, says a second Pasingerin, “permanently and permanently far too many people live in a small space”. Lots of children’s bicycles, small scooters and prams are parked where the rats romp – a health hazard for the residents, the woman fears.
The fact that rats exist is known to both the health department and the district administration department. On February 18, the municipality prompted the property owner to do something about it. He also complied. He was ill for a long time, says pension operator Ümit Kavun, but he’s also cleaned up in the meantime. In the meantime, a specialist company has also been commissioned to fight rats, which also works “properly”, the health authority confirms. The bait rails were placed in sufficient numbers and in the right places and checked at regular intervals. The hygiene inspectors of the health department are also in contact with the company and accompany the necessary control measures.
Success in combating them usually takes a while
“Rat control measures,” explains the spokeswoman, “usually last six to eight weeks before it is finally determined that there is no infestation.” However, she points out, hygiene deficits such as careless and improper waste disposal make the control measures “massively” more difficult. However, since the health authority “unfortunately does not have its own responsibility for any waste or restaurant law measures that may be required”, the district administration department (KVR) was “asked for support”. The KVR, in turn, says it has already “forwarded complaints about waste disposal” to the responsible authorities.
It’s not the first time there’s been trouble around this corner. As early as November 2019, the two restaurants, which were still operating under different names at the time, were closed by the city for hygiene reasons. But then there was a change of tenants. “Since then,” explains the spokesman for the district administration department, Johannes Mayer, “no more complaints” have come to the attention of the authorities. “Compliance with the food law requirements is of course checked at regular intervals” and concrete indications of abuses are “followed up promptly”.
Asked at the snack bar, they say that the large garbage cans belong to the guest house, only the two small black garbage cans to the restaurant. Meanwhile, pest control continues. And the Pasing-Obermenzing district committee also wants to deal with the case at Landsberger Straße 449 in its next meeting. But despite all these efforts, according to the health department, it cannot be guaranteed that the rats will really stay away in the end. “Rats are cultural followers of humans,” explains the spokeswoman for the authorities. “They settle in cities wherever there are cheap nesting and food options.”