Anne Souyris, vice president for public health at the Municipality of Paris, said: “Under the guidance of our mayor, we will set up a committee to investigate symbiosis. The committee will find the most effective way of coexistence of Parisians and mice, which is not unbearable for humans.”
$1.8 million was spent
The new policy of the Municipality of Paris means a serious step back from the measures taken against these rodents in the city where 6 million mice live.
The city government announced a plan to combat rats in 2017, with $1.8 million in funding spent on airtight trash cans and rat poison left in thousands of spots.
The mouse problem in Paris has come to the fore in recent months, with the cleaning workers going to work as part of the pension reform protests.
The number of mice in Paris is thought to be about three times the number of people.
Critics of Hidalgo’s new plan said the decision meant “throwing the towel” in fighting rodents, while some animal rights groups said they welcomed the new plan.
Paris, the capital of France, has had a turbulent relationship with mice for centuries.
Mice, seen as the main culprit in the spread of bubonic plague that killed half of the city’s population in the 14th century, prevented the city’s inhabitants from dying of famine in the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71.