There are countless reasons why someone would book a ticket to Rome. The history, the architecture, the pizza and much more.

Probably not on that list – or at least quite low – are the rats, snakes and seagulls that are now native to the Italian capital, said Rome’s leading zoologist.

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

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

These snakes also find unique ways to move around Rome. “One snake was caught by a seagull and thrown onto a terrace,” Lunerti said.

“The city has become a real jungle.”

Green whip snakes are the most common snake species in Rome, venturing out only on sunny days and eating “any prey they can get their mouths on,” experts say.

One of these snakes, Lunerti said, recently fell onto a woman’s patio. Another landed in a doctor’s dressing room. And in schools.

He is asking people in Rome to send him photos or videos of snakes so that they can identify them and deal with them better.

Lunerti added that the seagull population will also increase, while the number of pests, including oriental hornets, will increase.

The reason for this is nonsense – a lot of it.

According to the capital’s waste disposal agency, AMA, Rome produces 4,600 tons of garbage every day.

The city has been battling a garbage crisis since European authorities ordered the closure of the massive Malagrotta landfill, one of the largest in Europe, in 2013, deeming it unsuitable for waste treatment.

According to the Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti, there are now more than 25,000 wild boars roaming the city’s streets looking for leftover food.

Locals, meanwhile, say the stench of garbage piling up outside shops and pouring out of trash cans can become “overwhelming” in the summer heat. Restaurant owners say their customers are refusing to eat outside.

“Rome really needs to get its waste management under control, otherwise we will see even more snakes and hornets, not to mention the rats and seagulls – there are more seagulls in Rome than in Fregene,” said Lunerti, referring to a nearby coastal town.

Rome’s city council said the city is “not a jungle.” There is no connection between snakes and garbage, officials stressed, adding that garbage collection has improved this year.

“We can therefore say that the cleanliness in the city is better than it has been for years,” it says.

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