"Sanitation work in progress. Prohibited to pass". Posters from the Public Health Agency (ASPB) and the Barcelona Health Consortium warn that an action is being taken against the presence of rats in an Eixample block. The intervention has forced the closure of the entire space of more than 1,000 square meters, located in Calle Viladomat, between Diputació and Consell de Cent, in the Nova Esquerra neighborhood of the Eixample, since mid-February.
These are the Paula Montal gardens, very popular with the neighborhood, as they have a playground, a basket and a ping-pong table. In addition, on weekends from time to time it is usually the scene of children's birthday parties. “I had once gone with my nephews to the playground in the afternoon and I had to take them away because I saw rats. It's very disgusting. I don't know if it's because of the drought, but it seems like the area is a little more neglected,” laments a neighbor.
In part of this place, there was previously a leisure area for dogs and despite the protests of the pet owners, the City Council closed it at the end of 2022. In its place, large flower pots have been installed and there are blocks of concrete enabled as benches. Inside you can see some posters informing about action against rodents and different traps are also visible to hunt them down.
ASPB sources detail that due to the characteristics of the place 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 planned reopening date that will depend on the results of the controls.
The same sources add that actions with “control points with treatment and periodic reviews” have been carried out at this location since the end of January. “With rats it is a danger to leave this open, especially the playground with the children. I have never seen it closed completely for this reason. It's been like this for quite some time now, but there's no choice but to hold on! Also inside there is a container to donate clothes. “It has stayed there,” a neighbor resigns.
It is not the only action currently open to deal with murids in the unique interiors of Eixample blocks. Although in another part of the district it has not been necessary to close the entire space, the playground has been closed. This is what has happened in the Tres Tombs gardens, in the Sant Antoni neighborhood, where the old Galletas Montes factory was located, between Manso, Calàbria, Viladomat and Parlament streets.
It seems that bad luck accompanies this space and it is not free of rodents since another deratization action was carried out two years ago. The notice was given by the families of a municipal day care center, located in the same interior of the block. The work not only focuses on placing traps on the surface, where a burrow has been found just below the play castle, but also in the sewer network.
