Rodents and other vermin

Submitted by Michael Brydon on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 09:42
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Area F currently has no rodent control service. Accordingly, it is the responsiblity of each home owner to control his/her own mice, rats, marmots, and so on. The City of Penticton provides a useful guide to rodent control.

Of course, we can certainly establish a rodent control service area if there is sufficient demand (or if ordered to do so by the Medical Health Officer, which seems unlikely). Establishment of a new service requires a referendum to determine that this is something people are willing to pay for. Referenda for such relatively small issues are typically held during the normal local government election cycle to keep costs down. Please let me know if this is something that we should be exploring.

 

Update 08 July 2010: The RDOS will launch a pilot rat control service soon.  Please stand by for details.

Update 09 July 2010: The program is up and running.  Please see here.

 

 

Update: June 2010

Submitted by Michael Brydon on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 18:29.

I have received a few complaints (see the example below) about rats and have asked RDOS staff to look into an RDOS-operated rat control service for the greater West Bench.  No other part of the RDOS has a rat control service; however, the problem here seems to be growing.  A centralized and coordinated approach may be the only way to get on top of this problem before it gets out of hand.  We are currently checking with Penticton to determine whether their rat control efforts have been worth the cost. Please stand-by for updates on this.

A comment from a resident:

Our neighbourhood is currently having a problem with rats. We have trapped, counting now at 21,next door 10,across the street, they have a infestation in their garage,other neighbour have them getting into their vehicles engine & they had an exterminator 2yrs ago because of so many.We think something should be done up here on the West Bench to control these rodents. How many people don\'t realize the problem? Rats can multiply at a very high rate.

Rat Infestation on the West Bench

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 19:33.

Thank you for your quick reply Michael in regards to my email about the rats. I think having to pay a small fee, which would be added to our taxes, to have a program to control the rat population might be the way to go. Of course, this may not be suitable to everyone. I don't know how much we all would be charged? I think people  should be aware of the rat problem that the West Bench has & what they can do & should not be doing to help control the infestation. They are getting into composts, they hide in wood piles, they hide in irrigation pipes (that aren't being used) under sheds etc. They can multiply by the hundreds each year.I believe this is a major problem and we should be controling the problem.

Thanks,Colleen & Kerry Nicholson

Another rat tale

Submitted by Michael Brydon on Fri, 07/09/2010 - 09:21.

Another comment from a resident:

I have trapped and killed 32 rats on my property in the last 3 weeks.  They were in my hedge, living in stored pvc. Pipe, under my deck, in an out building etc. One actually made it into my house to set this whole thing off and it started a war where on a nightly basis I have been setting out traps and getting them. My neighbour has as well been setting traps and has killed about 12 so far. The neighbour across the street had to empty out his whole garage and throw out a lot of belongings as they had infested his place. To the north of me  they are leaving traces of eaten acorns under the hood of the vehicles and some have been shredded when the engine starts, as well they infested his pool pump bld. And have been seen in the grapes eating away, they hired a professional and he commented on the large amount of bait taken indicated there were a high number of them. We need public awareness, and we need to get on this soon, they will be thriving in places where people are not up to speed with the outbreak. The rats are very smart and know how to nest in places you wouldn't even think of since they are nocturnal many won't see them and think there are none on their property but I was at that mind set and they had free run for a while, the one that managed to get in my house gave me a wake up call and now the fight is on. When they see their numbers depleting they sense this and go into more rapid reproduction so we need to get something in place sooner than later. Possibly you should schedule a public awareness e-mail or meeting (town hall). Like is in place for water quality or the KVR issue There are for sure hundreds of them, we all need to attack this situation together.