” Sanitation work in progress. Prohibited to pass”. Posters from the Public Health Agency (ASPB) and the Consorci Sanitari de Barcelona warn that an action against the presence of rats is being carried out in an area of ??the Eixample district. The intervention has forced the closure of the entire space of more than 1,000 m2, located on Carrer Viladomat, between Diputació and Consell de Cent, in the Nova Esquerra neighborhood of the Eixample, since mid-February. This is the Paula Montal gardens, very frequented by the neighborhood, as it has a playground, a basket and a ping-pong table. In addition, weekends are usually the scene of children’s birthday parties. “I once went with my nephews to the playground in the afternoon and I had to take them with me because I saw rats there. It’s very unpleasant. I don’t know if it’s because of the drought, but it seems that the area is a little more neglected”, laments a neighbor.
In part of this space there used to be an area for dogs, and despite the protests of the owners of these animals, the City Council closed it at the end of 2022. In its place, large supports were installed for pots and there are concrete blocks used as benches. Inside there are some posters informing about the action against the rodents and also several traps to hunt them.
ASPB sources detail that due to the characteristics of the site, it was decided to close the space “for security reasons” in coordination with the Eixample district and the Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens. For now, there is no expected reopening date, which will depend on the results of the controls.
The same sources add that actions have been carried out at this location with “checkpoints with treatment and periodic reviews” since the end of January.
“With rats it is a danger to leave this open, especially the playground with children. I had never seen it completely closed for that reason. It’s been like this for quite some time, but there’s no other choice, we’ll have to put up with it!”, a neighbor resigns.
It is not the only action currently open to confront the murids in the unique interiors of the Eixample district. Although nowhere else in the district has it been necessary to close the entire space, the children’s park has been closed . This is what happened in the Tres Tombs gardens, in the Sant Antoni neighborhood, where the old Galletas Montes factory was located, between Manso, Calabria, Viladomat and Parlament streets.
This area of ??the Three Tombs seems to be accompanied by bad luck and does not get rid of rodents, as it did another rat extermination operation two years ago. Now the warning was given by the families who take the children to a municipal nursery school, located in the interior of the island. The work is not only focused on the placement of traps on the surface, where found a lair just below the play castle, but also in the sewer network.
