Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/933296
maltatoday SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2018 News 9 Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome Disease spreads by breathing in dust that is contaminated with rodent urine or droppings • Direct contact with rodents or their urine and droppings • Bite wounds, although this does not happen frequently • The disease may spread through direct contact from person to person, but it is extremely rare Leptospirosis Disease spreads by eating food or drinking water contaminated with urine from infected animals • Contact through the skin or mucous membranes (such as inside the nose) with water or soil that is contaminated with the urine from infected animals Rat-Bite Fever Disease spreads by bite or scratch wound from an infected rodent, or contact with a dead rodent • Eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated by rat faeces Salmonellosis Disease spread by eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated by rat faeces Vermin and disease Proofing is always the main key in rodent control. However, hy- giene is also an important factor. Residents should not only keep their establishments clean but al- so the outside of their surround- ings. "When people find wild rats in their property, ideally they should close the rodent in the area found and call a pest control company. Pest controllers would be aware of the dangers and treatments needed to contain the specimen/s and treatment and sterilisation of site." While not against the feeding of stray cats, Sciberras said that resi- dents should also be careful of the amount of food they give them. He suggested that when people give cats food, they shouldn't leave food for a long time as it at- tracts more rats. Apart from that, well-fed cats would not hunt rats, causing more rats to roam freely. Rat infestation around the Maltese Islands Rat infestation isn't just affect- ing Malta, but also Gozo, Comino and St Paul's Islands. While the rat population in Gozo is less than Malta, populated mainly around areas such as Xlendi, Comino has a bigger problem, due to the huge amounts of waste left on the Island. Sciberras said that the problem in Comino is bad not only for the public, but mostly for the endemic species found on the island, as the rats are eradicating them. "Remember that rats are adap- tive creatures. They easily adapt to their environment and to the people around them. They're very intelligent to live with us," he said. "At the end of the day, humans are the biggest pests in the world, and they adapt around us." mpace@mediatoday.com.mt MATTHEW AGIUS THE Court of Appeal has dismissed both an ap- peal against a decision to fine a Gozitan sheep farmer for keeping an unregistered herd and a second appeal, filed by the authorities requesting the destruction of the herd. Farmer Ganni Attard of Gharb had been the subject of a number of court cases after the au- thorities raided his farm in 2012 to cull a num- ber of unregistered animals, citing public health concerns. Attard resisted the cull and insisted that he had been telling the authorities since July 2010 to register the sheep and tag them. Last July, Magistrate Joe Mifsud, presiding the Court of Magistrates in Gozo found him guilty of illegally keeping the animals in breach of a num- ber of local and EU laws and fined him €5,000, payable over three years, but did not order the destruction of the herd. Attard filed an appeal, asking the court to re- voke the sentence and declare him not guilty of all charges. The Attorney General had also appealed the sentence, asking the court to also order the con- fiscation of the man's entire herd from his farm in San Dimitri, limits of Gharb. In a decision handed down last week, Judge Giovanni Grixti, presiding the Court of Appeal dismissed Attard's first argument – that the prosecution had failed to prove the existence of the animals in question – pointing out that he had admitted to encountering obstacles to the herd's registration and also because there was photographic evidence. The charge that Attard had failed to register animals did not also require that he register their movements to be valid, said the court in response to his other arguments. "In other words, a person can commit a breach of only one of the hypotheses listed...and not neces- sarily every one of them for guilt to be found." "The article...is clear and imposes upon every person, whether owner or keeper etc, the duty of identifying and registering animals they are responsible for as well as declaring their move- ments if this is the case. Every stretching of the simple meaning of these words or of what they should not mean is undesired for the purposes of the charge in question." The judge dismissed Attard's appeal, but the Attorney General did not find a sympathetic ear in the court, either. With respect to the Attorney General's cross- appeal, in which he asked the court to order the destruction of the herd, the court held that the law specified the confiscation of the "instru- ments, equipment, products or substances used in the commission of the crime", and this was at the absolute discretion of the court. But the court also noted that "the sheep are nei- ther instruments, nor equipment, nor products nor substances, but animals... the court of first instance therefore did not have the legal power to order the confiscation of the animals and the arguments of the Attorney General, even if logi- cal and aimed at safeguarding public health, can- not be considered further." The cross-appeal was also dismissed. Gozo shepherd loses appeal against €5,000 fine, but court refuses to order herd's destruction Authorities raided the farm of Ganni Attard [pictured] in 2012 A man from Chad has been re- manded in custody for attacking police officers with a knife in Flo- riana on Friday. The unnamed 23-year-old had been approached by police offic- ers in Vilhena Gardens in Floriana on Friday night after being spotted acting suspiciously. A sergeant and constable from the police Rapid Intervention Unit found the man on the edge of the bastions at the Turkish Embassy with a piece of wood in his hands. When the police ordered him to put down the wooden implement, he reacted aggressively, brandish- ing a knife at the officers, who then tried to arrest him. The man, who resides in Marsa, resisted arrest and attacked the po- lice, slightly injuring the sergeant and breaking one of the constable's fingers. His aggressive behaviour persisted yesterday morning when, as he was being led away from court, the man spat at journalists reporting on his arraignment. The accused did not reply when asked what he was pleading or whether he wished to be released on bail. Magistrate Ian Farrugia re- corded a not guilty plea. The man was remanded in custody. Two police officers injured while arresting knife-wielding man Arnold Sciberras with a pet squirrel