The Socialist Municipal Group has warned of the "operational collapse" of the Zoosanitario Centre in Seville, with over a hundred pending reports of insect and rodent infestations in homes, schools and summer camps.
The Socialist Municipal Group denounced this Friday the "operational collapse" of the Zoosanitario Centre in Seville, which has accumulated more than a hundred unaddressed reports due to the proliferation of insects and other pests during the hottest weeks. Socialist councillor Encarnación Aguilar has alerted that the City Council currently has only one team, made up of three people, to deal with all incidents related to hymenoptera in a city the size of the capital of Seville.
"There are over a hundred reports waiting for a response and only three workers trying to reach homes, schools and summer camps across the city. It’s not that the professionals aren’t working: it’s that Sanz’s government has left them alone, without sufficient resources and facing a situation that completely overwhelms them," the socialist councillor stated in a press release.
Aguilar expressed particular concern about the situation in educational centres where summer schools are being held, where issues related to cockroaches and rodents have been reported. The councillor emphasised that disinfection, pest control, and rodent control actions cannot be improvised when the pests have already spread, but require planning, prevention, and contracts in force throughout the year.
"Summer hasn’t arrived as a surprise. The heat, the proliferation of insects, and the increase in reports are predictable. What is unreasonable is that the City Council arrives late again and expects to react when the workers are overwhelmed and the problems have already entered homes and schools," she declared.
The Socialist Municipal Group reminded that José Luis Sanz’s government has been announcing an investment of around 500,000 euros for a specific disinfection, pest control, and rodent control contract, known as the DDD contract, for three years. According to Aguilar, the municipal executive now intends to push for its contracting during August, when much of the incidents typical of the summer period have already occurred.
"Sanz has been promising this contract for three years and now it seems he will issue it in August. But August is too late to prevent summer pests. By then, there will already be hundreds of affected families, educational centres with incidents, and a municipal staff completely overwhelmed," she criticised.
The councillor also warned that the weakness of the municipal device is particularly concerning at a time when monitoring and control of mosquitoes should be intensified, including tracking risks related to the Nile virus.
PSOE demands that the mayor immediately reinforce the staff at the Zoosanitario, establish an extraordinary device to reduce the more than a hundred pending reports, carry out urgent actions in the affected schools, and provide explanations regarding the effective start date of the DDD contract.
This new accumulation of incidents confirms the warnings made by PSOE at the beginning of July about the progressive deterioration of the Zoosanitario and the insufficiency of resources to provide an essential service for public health. "A few weeks ago we denounced the deterioration of the facilities themselves and the lack of rodent control and disinfection contracts. Now we see that the consequences of that neglect are already spreading throughout the city in the form of unaddressed reports and pests directly affecting families," Aguilar pointed out.
Residents of Seville affected by pests can contact the municipal Zoosanitario Centre, although PSOE warns that response times have significantly lengthened due to the lack of resources. An official response from the City Council to the Socialist Group's demands is expected in the coming days.
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