Quispamsis Neighbourhood Dealing With Rat Problem

Residents in one Quispamsis neighbourhood say they are under siege by a not-so-cute rodent and are pleading with the town for help.

But town officials say issues with nuisance animals on private property are not something that they deal with directly.

Pamela White, who lives on Longbow Place, brought her concerns about a rat infestation to town councillors this week.

“We’re under siege,” White told council during a presentation at their regular meeting on Tuesday night.

“You can’t leave your screen doors open because they’ll chew right through your screen doors and come in the house. They have chewed all the bottoms of all of our garbage cans. It’s out of control.”

White said one of her biggest concerns is that someone is going to get bit by one of the rats, which can spread diseases.

She said an exterminator told her the problem needs to be dealt with on a community level as individual efforts are not proving to be successful.

“The exterminator did say that whatever is available to the laymen, [the rats are] pretty much immune to it,” said White. “I don’t know what to do, my neighbours don’t know what to do.”

Gary Losier, the town’s engineering director, echoed those comments and noted that hiring professional pest control services seems to be the preferred option in many locations.

“From the town’s perspective, we don’t deal directly with nuisance animals such as rats, pigeons, seagulls, things of that nature,” he said.

Losier said the town will usually launch an education program to ensure neighbours are on the same page about measures like removing food sources, which he said will generally encourage the rodents to move on.

But White said she and her neighbours have done just that and the rat infestation continues to be a problem.

“Everyone is on board,” she said. “The problem is that it’s now such a large amount that there’s no way that we’re going to get this under control on our own.”

Town officials sought advice from Joe Kennedy, a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development on the issue.

Kennedy said the only control option for rats is to kill either, either by hiring a pest control company or a nuisance wildlife control officer.

“The only non-lethal option is to remove as many food sources as possible, including garbage, bird food, pet food, compost, apple trees, etc,” Kennedy wrote in an email to the town, noting that it is “very difficult” to do at the neighbourhood scale.

He encouraged the town to do public outreach in the neighbourhood to request that residents restrict or eliminate all potential rat food on their property.

Council voted to send a letter to White acknowledging that the town does not provide pest control on private property and suggesting that residents hire their own pest control services to kill rats or use rat trap devices, and take measures to remove as many rat food sources from their properties as possible.