Border farmers are taking pre-emptive action in case rodents begin swarming into Hong Kong after overrunning Shenzhen.
Rural committees have put villagers on alert for a possible influx after reports that the number of rats in the Special Economic Zone might have reached serious proportions.
While there have not yet been reports of an above-average number of rats in the northern New Territories, farmers have been told to keep their places clean to avoid attracting them.
Ta Kwu Ling Rural Committee chairman Cheung Fo-tai said new river drainage projects in recent years might have forced the rats out of their old haunts.
The chairman of Sha Tau Kok Rural Committee, Li Hak-bun, agreed: 'We have not received any complaints about rat attacks in villages, but we shall tell farmers to take preventive measures. Rats can seriously damage crops.' Rat-catchers caught 38,231 of them in the New Territories last year. A spokesman for Shenzhen's agricultural authorities admitted the rat population in the countryside had shown signs of increasing but said the problem was not too serious.
Last year, 271 people went to hospital in Shenzhen with rat bites.
