Rome is now a ‘jungle’ of snakes and rats due to overflowing rubbish, expert says

There are countless reasons why someone would book a ticket to Rome. The history, the architecture, the pizza, among other things.

Probably not on that list – or at least rather low down – are the rats, snakes and seagulls that now call Italy’s capital home, Rome’s top zoologist has said.

Andrea Lunerti told The Guardian he has been swamped this summer with calls about snake sightings, adding that the warm winter allowed them to thrive.

‘Then they come to the city from their natural environment because there is a lot of food waste, and where there is food waste there are rats – their main prey,’ he told the newspaper.

These snakes are also finding unique ways to get around Rome. ‘A snake was captured by a seagull and dropped on to a terrace,’ Lunerti said.

‘The city has become a proper jungle.’

Green whip snakes are the most common snake slithering around Rome. They only venture out on sunny days and eat ‘any prey that they manage to get in their mouths’, experts say.

One of these snakes, Lunerti said, had recently fallen onto a woman’s terrace. Another wound up in a doctor’s changing room. Schools too.

He asks people in Rome to send him photographs or videos of snakes to help identify them and know how best to handle them.

Seagull populations are also on the up as vermin numbers swell, Lunerti added, which also includes Oriental hornets.

The reason for this is rubbish – and a lot of it.

Rome produces 4,600 tons of waste every day according to the capital’s rubbish authority, AMA.

The city has grappled with a rubbish crisis since the European authorities ordered the closure of the sprawling Malagrotta landfill, among the largest dumps in Europe, in 2013. They deemed it unfit to treat waste.

Now more than 25,000 wild boars are known to poke about the city’s streets hunting for leftovers, according to the Italian farmer’s association Coldiretti.

Locals, meanwhile, say the stench of the rubbish piling up in front of shops and spilling out of bins can become ‘overwhelming’ in the summer heat. Restaurateurs say customers refuse to dine outside.

‘Rome really needs to get a grip on its waste management, otherwise, we will be seeing even more snakes and hornets, not to mention the rats and seagulls – there are more seagulls in Rome than there are in Fregene,’ said Lunerti, referring to a nearby seaside town.

Rome’s city council said there the city is ‘no jungle’. There is no link between snakes and rubbish, officials insisted, adding that refuse collection has improved this year.

‘This allows us to say that the cleanliness of the city is the best it has been for years,’ it said.

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