LETTER: Expanding rat population in Creston

To the Editor:

On July 10, my wife found a dead rat in the garden. This is the first time I’d seen any sign of rats in my neighbourhood. When I mentioned this to several people, everyone had a rat story.

My wife then called Town of Creston and was referred to Wildsight for assistance. Wildsight was a resource for mitigation, not eradication.

July 17, I came across a dead rat on 20th Avenue South, laying on the sidewalk. This really isn’t what I want people to see walking past my yard. I called the Town of Creston again and was told they didn’t have the budget to deal with it and to contact Wildsight.

My concerns are, one, that private citizen might start to try to deal with this problem by trapping and poisoning the rats. I do not want to see dogs, cats and birds being poisoned or trapped. We know all about that from articles in the Advance about people trying to poison wolves and killing dogs instead.

Two, does Creston really want to be on the news concerning a rat infestation? Three, rats carry disease and are a public health concern.

I live in Creston, I pay taxes in Creston and the rats are in Creston. I’d like to see the Town of Creston stop passing the buck to others and do something before dogs, cats and birds start getting poisoned.

I did a few hours of research and have built my own poison dispensers that are safe for very little money. I’d like to see the city clean up areas that attract rats, clean up food sources, close off areas where they can live, set up safe traps and poison bait sites. They could also hold some well-advertised public workshops for homeowners on how to prevent rats from moving into their yards and how to make safe poison dispensers.

I would be interested to hear a public discussion around this in the newspaper.

Jim Zacharias | Creston

The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Creston Valley Advance. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.