By Diana Ghazaryan and Hermineh Virabyan

Terez Baghdasaryan, who lives just a few yards away from a water canal running alongside Yerevan’s Rostov Street, says she’s given up contacting municipal services when it comes to controlling the rat infestation in the garbage-strewn ditch.

“They come by once a year to clean it. The last time was last March. People use it as a convenient trash dump. They used to use poison to clean out the rats. No one had done so for the past few years. The stench and all is unbearable,” says Baghdasaryan.

The Djrvezh and Voghdjaberd rivers, and a few water canals, run through Yerevan’s Erebouni and Noubarashen districts.

There are food stores, auto repair shops and other businesses along this stretch on the water canal. Where there are no businesses, residents use the open area to dump their garbage, even though there are trash bins available.

Anahit Sargsyan also lives near the canal and says that the municipality has cleaned the canal even when residents haven’t filed any complaints.

“Most of the garbage is dumped by individuals. I even have neighbors who leave their trash in front of the building rather than walk a few yards to the trash bins. I have to pick up their garbage and dump it for them. Can you believe it?” Sargsyan said, adding that when the canal is cleaned and the rats have nothing to eat, they visit her home as ‘guests’.

The Yerevan Municipality said that the Rostov Street Voghdjaberd River canal is scheduled to be cleaned next month.

The last time rat poison was used to control the rodent population was in November of 2015. Another application is scheduled for next month by a firm called Yerevan Preventative Cleaning that has a contract with the municipality.

Company president Mels Poghosyan says they spray the area twice a year and immediately respond to complaints by nearby residents.

Diana Ghazaryan and Hermineh Virabyan are fourth year journalism students at Yerevan State University