RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Rats Infesting Food Store Prompt Inspector Visit

A cellphone video of rats taken by a passerby at a Vancouver grocery store has prompted a visit to the business by Vancouver health inspectors.

Matt Johnson was walking along West Broadway Saturday when he looked through the window at Kitsilano Natural Foods and saw large rats crawling over food and knocking over containers inside.

Johnson said he was with a female friend who started screaming at the sight.

“There were rats all over the place," he said.

Johnson pulled out his phone and started recording because he thought people wouldn’t believe it when he told them about the bizarre scene without visual proof.

"They were going through the produce, they were running up and down the walls. They had knocked down cans of stuff. It was a big mess.”

Health inspectors were notified about the video, inspected the store Tuesday, and have spoken with the owner about dealing with its rodent problem.

The rodents are a common problem in Vancouver, but if an infestation becomes too severe, inspectors can shut that business down, according to Trudi Beutel, of Vancouver Coastal Health.

"There has to be a wholesale infestation,” Beutel said. “And we have to believe there has been no due diligence on the part of the owner to correct any of the issues that have been brought to light over the course of the investigation."

The owner of Kitsilano Natural Foods, Ben Huinh, said Thursday that pest control technicians were sealing his building and getting rid of the rats.

Huinh said customers shouldn't be worried.

“Our policy for our goods is when in doubt, throw it out. So if we see anything that appears to be tampered with by rodents or anything we will discard of it," said Huinh.

Fall is the time of year that rats become more of a problem, as they seek warm places to go and food to eat, so they can be hard to keep out of homes and businesses, said Peter Steinfort, of Care Pest Control.

"They are excellent climbers, so they can go in through soffits. They can go through any sort of opening,” said Steinfort. “All a rat needs is about half an inch and that's enough for them to squeeze through.”

Steinfort said home and business owners need comprehensive plans to deal with the problem.

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Housing Worker Kills Monster, 3ft Rat .... and Says There Are More

A huge rat has been speared to death by a pitchfork at a sprawling New York housing project.

Jose Rivera, a Housing Authority worker, was clearing a rat hole at the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn when three of the creatures popped out.

He was only able to nab one. It appears to be almost three feet long, including the tail, is covered in white fur and looks well-fed.

Mr Rivera, 48, said: 'I hit it one time and it was still moving.

'I hit it another time and that's when it died. I'm not scared of rats but I was scared of being bitten.'

Naomi Colon, head of the Marcy Houses Tenant Association, said there have been sightings of the outsize rat for at least six years.

She said: 'The residents have told me that they've seen it running around with other rats.

'She lived with them. She ran into the same hole they ran in.'

Animal experts have identified the monster rodent as a Gambian pouched rat, which is a fairly common pet rat.

They are nocturnal, can grow to three feet, weigh four pounds or more and live seven or eight years, the New York Daily News reports.

Imports have been banned since 2003, when the rats were blamed for a monkeypox outbreak that affected 100 people.

Dr Paul Calle, director of zoological health at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said the Marcy Houses specimen was probably an escaped or discarded pet who decided to join the regular rats.

He said: 'They are a very social animal and live in big groups in the wild.

'Our Norway rats are the closest big rodents it could accompany.'

He said they can be trained to sniff out landmines,adding that 'they're pretty remarkable animals'.

Tenants fear that the Gambian rat has been breeding with the Norway rats and spawning a super-breed of rodents.

But Mr Calle said the imported rat probably would not mate with local rats, and it couldn't reproduce if it did, because each is from a different genus.

One Marcy Houses resident, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals from city or property management, described the conditions there.

'In one day eight big size rats were killed,' he said, adding that they have been seen in the playground.

Another resident said: 'Adults had to grab children and run because a lot of rats came on the playground. The kids were screaming.'

Resident Stephanie Davis, 44, said: 'Even the cats are afraid of the rats. They get together and gang up on the cats.'

Pam Davis, 43, added: 'They're here day and night. We don't dodge bullets. We dodge rats. They're so big, they should charge them rent.'

Alex Johnson
Service Specialist
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA