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Delta trying new ways to deal with rodents

Hoping it can lead by example, the City of Delta is looking into how it deal with rodents without the use of poisonous chemicals.
rat poisoning
Local naturalists have joined advocacy groups and researchers in calling for reduced use of rodenticides.

Hoping it can lead by example, the City of Delta is looking into how it deal with rodents without the use of poisonous chemicals.

In response to calls by local residents for city to seek an alternative way to deal with the rodent population, due to pesticides being too destructive to other animals, an outdoor trial is currently underway that has seven civic facilities in Ladner and Tsawwassen using snap traps in place of anti-coagulant rodenticides.

The selected sites were areas identified as having a higher likelihood of non-target predators present that could potentially be poisoned, a staff report notes, adding the purpose of the trial is to determine the effectiveness of outdoor mechanical trapping prior to eliminating rodenticides at all municipal facilities.

Common predators that can become poisoned eating dead rodents that have consumed rodenticides include small-to-mid-sized raptors, such as hawks and owls, and coyotes.

Delta’s indoor rodent control is accomplished exclusively through mechanical trapping.

In addition to the outdoor trial, a study is being conducted at the Delta Community Animal Shelter on a new self-resetting trap.

Those traps are advertised to kill a rodent, release the carcass, and reset automatically without human intervention.

Nearby predators can scavenge rodents killed by the trap, thereby reducing the need for staff or contractor handling and associated costs.

At the conclusion of the trials, staff will review the trapping data and request feedback from facilities staff on their observations of rodent activity.

The results and further recommendations on policy changes regarding rodent control at civic facilities will then be brought forward.

“These recommendations will ensure that high health and safety standards for staff, patrons and wildlife are fully considered and that any proposed changes are effective and sustainable, particularly in light of economic changes arising from COVID-19,” the report notes.

Meanwhile, the city won’t be introducing a bylaw prohibiting rat poison for private commercial or residential use.

The report explains local governments only have the authority to restrict pesticide use for cosmetic landscaping purposes on residential or municipal lands.

Since rodents are considered structural and not cosmetic pests, local governments cannot enact pesticide bylaws that ban the use of any formulation of rodenticide.