Renewed initiatives have been undertaken by the city of Rome to manage the hordes of rats and mice that have gathered around the renowned Colosseum and ancient Roman ruins.
Pictures and videos of rats and mice burrowing through rubbish, food scraps, and plastic bottles at the ancient amphitheater have been circulating on social media in recent days.
The site, located in the heart of Rome, is among Europe's most popular tourist attractions.
City workers placed traps around the site, cleaned up rubbish left lying around the area, and checked manholes for rodents in the past few days, the city said in a statement on Saturday.
Further steps will now be taken in cooperation with Colosseum administrators to combat rats and mice, the city said.
The situation at the Colosseum is "absolutely under control," Rome's environment assessor Sabrina Alfonsi said, according to the statement.
The city's administration estimates that Rome is home to some 7 million rats.
According to Alfonsi, the area around the Colosseum and the nearby Colle Oppio park are not normally a "hotspot" for rats in the city.
But she said that the heat of the past few days and the influx of tourists this summer has led to large amounts of rubbish, food scraps and plastic bottles left in the area.
