Jean-Claude Vavasseur, 70 years old, lives in the suburb of Nancy, in Vandoeuvre. For three years, rats have invaded his cellar. It’s a real headache. Friday May 3, exasperated, he tells us.
Jean-Claude has lived in Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy in Meurthe-et-Moselle for fifteen years. He settled here at the start of his retirement, “to be quiet”,in the mid-2000s. “I am a former concierge of the ex-DDE.” Here he rents an apartment for 585 euros per month, charges included. But for three years, rats have invaded his cellar. “I remember I had left some things. I went downstairs and it smelled bad. And then I saw and smelled because they were peeing everywhere. It stinks, it stinks!”.
Jean-Claude lives next to the town hall, Place de Trèves. A small three-room apartment on the third floor. And this year, the situation has taken a much more serious turn. Jean-Claude feels trapped. “Down there, they gnaw the electrical supply pipes; and also the pipes.” Illness, dirt, bad smell… it’s true that Jean-Claude, when he talks about it, quickly loses his temper, “I’m going through hell, it’s terrible. The rats always come back. And now people put out bread to attract them and feed them. It’s really disgusting, I can’t go into the cellar anymore”. In any case, for everyone, rats remain unloved animals. “If we notice the presence of rats with their smell it is not a good sign. They urinate a lot and everywhere and that means they are well established“, says Ayoub Ouqmara, responsible ofa Lorraine company specializing in rodent control.
I’m going through hell, it’s awful. The rats always come back. And now people put bread to attract them and to feed them. This is really disgusting.
Jean-Claude Vavasseur, resident of Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy
So the proliferation of rodents even worries Jean-Claude’s wife, also retired, and also very angry. How many are there in your cellar? “I don’t know. I don’t go there anymore anyway. I don’t dare go there anymore”. Next to her Jean-Claude says: “I’m scared. We can get some shit” [comprendre des maladies]”. They cannot be confused with mice. Are you sure they are rats? “Ah yes. Yes… there were some burst ones in my cellar and the guy who maintains the buildings removed them. I saw”.
For its part, contacted by telephone, Friday May 3, 2024, the lessor, the company Batigère Habitat, does not deny the problem posed by rats. However, she says she is doing everything she can to improve the situation. “A new action plan is planned in the coming weeks. I will call Mr. Vavasseur quickly to tell him”, explains Nicolas Kwiatkowski, territorial director at Batigère. Surveillance will be put in place. “We cannot do as we want because of European standards”, he adds. A meeting with a company is already planned for next Tuesday.
The fact remains that today a large-scale rodent control is necessary. “A pair of rats can produce 40,000 individuals in two years if nothing prevents them”, said Ayoub Ouqmara. Now this is what worries Jean-Claude the most. He fears the arrival of new “specimens” as he says. “I tell you again: it stinks!”
