Hong Kong catches nearly 110,000 live rats in first nine months of 2026

The Hong Kong government has caught nearly 110,000 live rats and collected over 20,000 dead ones in the first nine months of this year as the city steps up efforts to combat rodent infestation.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department told local media in a written response that from January to September, staff caught 109,087 live rats, 20 per cent more than in the same period last year.

Across Hong Kong’s 18 districts, Yau Tsim Mong saw the most live rats captured, totalling nearly 17,000, followed by Sham Shui Po, Wong Tai Sin, and Kowloon City.

Meanwhile, Sai Kung and Southern District recorded the fewest live rodents captured, with 1,415 and 1,424 caught respectively.

Over the nine-month period, FEHD staff collected 20,650 dead rats.

Hong Kong has seen an increasingly severe issue of rodent infestation over the past few years. Despite government enforcement, rats have been spotted in the city’s supermarkets, parks, and streets.

The FEHD announced on Facebook that it carried out “late-night enforcement” around Baker Circle, a mixed-use development in Hung Hom, on Sunday after social media users reported a swarm of rats running outside a restaurant while diners ate.

The department said it had captured 77 live rats in that area over the past two months.

Local media reported that some supermarkets had poor hygiene, with live rats and cockroaches spotted scurrying across fresh fruit in PARKnSHOP and Wellcome branches.

Rodents were also spotted around midnight in Hong Kong parks, including Cherry Street Park in Mong Kok and Tai Loong Street Playground in Kwai Chung, Oriental Daily reported.

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Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing.