The city needs a Pied Piper, the legendary German rat-catcher who in the 16th century successfully lured the mice away from the city of Hamelin with his magic pipe. Jeddah, the Bride of the Red Sea as the city is proudly called, is beset with a growing population of mice in various districts thanks mainly to a noticeable rise in garbage dumps and construction waste piled up on the pavements. But the neglect shown by the concerned authorities is also to blame for leaving the residents of the city at the mercy of the mice. Several residents of Al-Sulaimaniya, Al-Jamea, Kilo 10, Al-Rawabi and Al-Nakheel districts complained to the Saudi Gazette that their pleas to the authorities to get rid of the menace have till now fallen on deaf ears. “I wish one of the Jeddah Mayoralty official visits my home to count with me the number of mice in my home,” said Saleh Al-Thobiani, a Saudi resident in Al-Sulaimaniya District. Several residents, he said, have complained to the Jeddah Mayoralty but no one has responded positively. Not far from the district, the Saudi Gazette found the same complaints from the residents of Al-Nakheel and Al-Musaed districts. “The mice have increased considerably after construction waste dumped near my house for over three months has not been cleared by the Jeddah Mayoralty,” said Sa'ad Al-Ghamdi, a resident of Al-Nakheel District. Later, Sa'ad came to know that there are special dumps for the construction waste set up by Jeddah Mayoralty at the far-east side of the city. “If there is a special dump, why do people pile up their construction waste next to the garbage dumpsters?” Al- Ghamdi asked. Responding to the Saudi Gazette on the mice menace in the city, Naif Mashhor, media coordinator at Jeddah Mayoralty, said: “We need you to send us a list of questions and we will provide suitable answers as soon as possible.” According to a scientific study published in Okaz Arabic daily newspaper in May this year, number of mice increased in the coastal cities as they come through ships which visit different ports all over the world. The study stated that this kind of mice has a very good competence of proliferation. Each pair of mice could produce 2,000 annually. Mice are very active in the night. They are smart as well. A study shows that the mice play a vital role to infect the human being by 20 different diseases included plague, cholera and typhoid. Mice have a great ability to adapt with environment and they visit homes especially kitchens and stores, the study stated. The study concluded that mice have also a great ability to resist many kinds of pesticides which lead the scientists to change them regularly. The increasing number of mice has become one of the main topic of discussion of Jeddah residents on the Facebook and Twitter. “I think Jeddah deserves to be renamed capital of mice instead of Bride of the Red Sea,” a Saudi national twitted recently. __
