The pitter patter of little feet is creating consternation for some Salmon Arm residents.
Sylvia Martin lives in the Hillcrest neighbourhood on 18th Street SE. She says rats are a growing problem in the city.
鈥淚 think part of the problem for Salmon Arm is people are in the dark; they don鈥檛 realize there鈥檚 an issue. A lot of people aren鈥檛 seeing them.鈥�
Sylvia and her spouse Claude hired a trapper to rid their property of the rodents, which she thinks are being attracted by the alluring scent of neighbours鈥� backyard composters. The Martins began trapping rats in July and managed to confine them to one area of their woodpile, yet still this week they caught three. Sylvia says she鈥檚 taken down her birdfeeders, also an attractant. She鈥檚 heard rumours of rats in other parts of the city and would like to know what can be done to eradicate them.
鈥淣obody wants to see a mouse, but rats 鈥� they鈥檙e just gross.鈥�
Along with the Martins, Rod Schumacher, also a Hillcrest resident, has written to city council, hoping the city can do something while the number of rats is still relatively small. Mayor Alan Harrison asked that it be put on the agenda in six weeks, so council would have time to consult with other municipalities at the Union of BC Municipalities convention.
At Buckerfield鈥檚 in Salmon Arm, rat chat is common. Alyssa Zettergreen says staff were just having a conversation about the rodents before being contacted by the Observer because someone was asking if the city is going to do anything about them.
The store has seen sales of rat traps and poison increasing.
鈥淟ast year we definitely did not hear a lot about rats 鈥� more mice, but this year we鈥檙e hearing more about rats.鈥�
Although the rat problem appears to be relatively new to Salmon Arm, the long-tailed creatures have been rearing their pointy heads in other parts of the Interior for a while.
Rats around the Interior
A pest control company, Orkin, keeps track of its , so larger centres figure prominently. In 2018, Vancouver was number 1, with 91大黄鸭 7 and Kamloops 14.
In Revelstoke, 2015 and 2016 were vintage years for vermin proliferation. Because the city was receiving a lot of complaints and demands for action, it struck up a partnership with Interior Health to provide education, explains interim city administrator Dawn Low.
A health nurse was invited to give a presentation to city council, which packed council chambers. As a follow-up, an evening session was held at the community centre.
鈥淭he public responded to it really well. They really appreciated the information,鈥� Low says.
She didn鈥檛 go so far as to say the rodents are gone, but noted no complaints have been heard in the last couple of years.
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In Vernon, Geoff Gaucher, manager of protective services, says there are rats in Vernon as there are everywhere in the province. He says milder winters of late are helping keep the species healthy.
However, rats in the city appear to be decreasing, especially when food sources like bird seed and cat food are being removed. He estimates he gets about 10 email rat complaints a year, plus one or two about marmots.
Similar to other municipalities, Vernon does not have a bylaw that encompasses wildlife, and rats are considered wildlife. The publishes material on what property owners can do, as rats are considered a homeowner鈥檚 responsibility.
Gaucher says there鈥檚 a stigma around rats 鈥� that they鈥檙e only attracted to dirty properties, but it鈥檚 not true. One person called him to complain about rats at a home with an immaculate yard. That鈥檚 because it was one with a source of water and food 鈥� a fountain and a bird feeder.
At the Regional District of Central Okanagan, which encompasses 91大黄鸭 and West 91大黄鸭, communications officer Bruce Smith says rat complaints have been ongoing for a number of years and tend to be cyclical, escalating and then dropping off.
The regional district doesn鈥檛 provide services, but refers people to pest control companies or . It does sell composting units and encourages residents to compost properly.
is a source of information about all things rat. For instance, a pair of rats could theoretically produce more than 900 offspring within a single year. Rats are not native to B.C. and can devour crops, threaten ground-nesting birds and spread disease.
In Penticton, communications manager Philip Cooper says he鈥檚 not aware of any rat issues, although the city has a brochure on rat prevention.
鈥淲e have more complaints about deer recently than we do about rats.鈥�
Cooper does have a personal rat story. He lives in Summerland and has to take his vehicle to be repaired next week. Although the two most common rats in the Interior are Norway and roof rats, what鈥檚 been identified as a pack rat crawled up into his engine and chewed through wires before making a bed of sorts with various debris, including a piece of cactus, on the gasket covers. Engine lights are now on permanently and the thermometer thinks its minus-40 Celsius outside. The chewing on wires is apparently common for rats, according to ICBC.
marthawickett@saobserver.net
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