SINGAPORE: As the authorities intensify their efforts to reduce Singapore's rat population, stallholders at one hawker centre are doing their part in a unique way.
Over the past three years, vendors at Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre have been collecting cash rewards for catching rodents at the market close to Clementi MRT Station.
The cash-for-rats bounty - which used to go up to S$100 (US$77) per rat but has since been reduced to a maximum of S$50 - is run and sponsored by the Clementi Town Shop Owners' Association.
The cash reward first emerged in the public eye at the start of the month when Shin Min Daily News reported on it.
Now, stallholders told CNA they have been handing over trapped rats to licensed pest controllers after they were reminded not to dispose of them on their own.
Rats have been a persistent problem in Singapore, with experts previously attributing the issue to their quick breeding as well as poor refuse management and housekeeping practices, among other factors.
Enforcement action against premise owners for rat-related lapses rose about 26 per cent in the first half of this year, compared with the same period last year.
In August, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said it detected an average of 5,400 rat burrows per cycle across Singapore in the first half of 2025. This is almost double the 2,800 burrows recorded in the same period last year.
Participating stallholders at Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre said they joined in the bounty hunting to keep their market clean, using cages or glue traps to trap rats.
They are paid based on the estimated size of the rodents, which have mostly been found in the wet market area.