Paying public to catch mice may see more mice

LETTER | Majlis Bandaraya Iskandar Puteri (MBIP) recently launched a new programme in trying to control the population of mice in the city. Under the "Program Membasmi Burung Gagak & Tikus", MBIP will pay the public RM1 for every house mouse caught. Far from being an effective solution, this will only make matters worse.

The city of Delhi had a problem with venomous snakes. Its city council offered a cash reward to its citizens for catching cobras. The city soon discovered that people were breeding cobras for the cash rewards and so stopped the programme. Breeders released the cobras, and thus the problem became worse. This is well-documented in economics and public policy textbooks and is known as the "Cobra Effect".

Documented records show that Hanoi previously had a similar programme as MBIP to pay citizens for catching mice. Enterprising citizens began rearing mice for the bounty. Soon, rat infestation in the city became much worse.

It only takes a very small number of irresponsible people to make the infestation of mice become much worse. This is because mice have a very short gestation period of 20 days, can give birth to a litter of 14 young mice, and can have 10 litters each year. The lifespan of a house mouse is two years, and they can copulate as early as five weeks old. 

Therefore, just a small number of irresponsible people can cause the population of mice to grow exponentially in a very short time. Reversing the infestation of mice will take many long years.

Iskandar Puteri is an important city within the Iskandar Development Region. It is Johor’s state administrative capital and is home to the ambitious EduCity project, where renowned British universities and famous international schools are located. Legoland Malaysia and the prestigious Puteri Harbour are also situated here. What kind of image will Iskandar Puteri project if it becomes a mice-infested city?

A famous philosopher once wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 

The modern history of city administration has shown us that paying the public to reduce the population of pests is not only ineffective but will make things worse. MBIP should and must stop its plan to pay residents for catching rats.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.