They walk around Chinatown in broad daylight, not caring about flabbergasted passers-by.Around the many construction sites of the metropolis, they abound. Rats have visibly manifested themselves more for two years in the metropolis. The City of Montreal is trying to fight against this scourge by authorizing the outdoor use of a poison that was banned last year.
Montreal banned the outdoor use of nearly 40 chemicals last year, including several rat poisons, on the pretext of protecting the rest of the city’s wildlife. Trapdoors have since become the tool of choice, one kill at a time. As a result, rodent control has become more difficult.
“We are seeing them appear in sectors that were not a problem,” observes one of the great extermination experts in Montreal, Nathaniel Leavey, of Maheu Extermination. “We have the impression that there is a big upsurge, but we are wondering if there is not perhaps the same presence as in other years, except that we cannot manage to kill them. There aren’t necessarily more rats, but we are no longer able to control them. »
“Before, we were able to control with rodenticides, in containers not accessible to other species,” confirms Chantal Lessard, from Extermination à bas prix. “Now we see people, citizens who buy products like the Tomcat on the Internet [un puissant poison] and place them themselves around their homes. It’s worse for other animals. »
The other person responsible for this visible proliferation is the jobs that abound in Montreal. “Orange cones are everywhere in Montreal,” says Hélène Bouchard, president of the Association québécoise de la gestion parasitaire. “Knowing that rats live in the sewers, any construction, such as for the REM or for condo towers, displaces the colonies of rats. It is certain that because of this work, we see them a little more. »
There are no more rats this year, according to Jacques McDonald, of the company L’Ex-TerminateurJm, but the number of mice is certainly increasing. The fault lies with the banning of poisons, he assures. “I don’t know who made that decision, but it’s definitely been a good year for rodents. »
It is difficult to estimate the number and therefore the growth of this hidden vermin. The number of reports to the City remains fairly stable. Thus, 113 requests were made to 311 last year, compared to 108 the previous year.
Fortunately, rats and mice do not represent a real danger for the population. The diseases they carry are found in humans only in extremely rare cases in Quebec, as elsewhere in the West. “It’s when you have rats living near contaminated waterways [par ces maladies] cause problems,” says Dr. Claire Grosset, professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal. However, the increase in the rat population is observed in most major cities around the world, according to this expert.
“We cannot say that there is, at the moment, […] an infestation. The situation remains under control,” thundered Marie-Andrée Mauger of Projet Montréal during last Monday’s city council meeting.
New measure
Nevertheless, the City corrected the situation at the beginning of the year by reauthorizing the free use of a rat poison, diphacinone. The measure should come into force within a few weeks. This step back is very well received in the middle of the extermination.
“Poison is not a one-size-fits-all solution or a perfect solution,” says Philippe Sabourin, administrative spokesperson for the City of Montreal. ” […] When we use rat traps or poisons, if there is food on the public domain, it is difficult to attract rats. They will go to the grease, the apple core before the trap or the poison. »
That’s why he says the City takes waste management “very seriously,” especially downtown. “Last year, we tripled cleanliness interventions [dans Ville-Marie]. We added a public domain inspector. »
In winter, too many citizens put their garbage on the sidewalk during snow removal, he notes. “Don’t put your garbage bag on the piles of snow, because otherwise, we’ll end up with gutted bags on public property, and it’s a feast for the rats. If our behaviors do not change, the situation will not change. »
Wildlife vs. Wildlife
Banning rat poison outdoors, while effective, harms the entire urban ecosystem. ” [Les rodenticides] cause coagulation problems in rats. Any bird of prey that is going to eat small rodents, mice or rats, can be contaminated by what is in the rats,” explains Dr.D Grosset. “The rat or mouse will eat the product, but will not die immediately, otherwise the other rats around will make the link between the rodenticide and the mortality of their congener, notes the DD Grosset. We speak of delayed mortality of one, two or three weeks after ingestion. It means that the rodent wanders around in nature, in the city, for a little while before dying. As it begins to show signs of deterioration, it becomes easier for our birds of prey to catch. »
“Ideally, it shouldn’t be used,” she says. “We regularly receive birds that are intoxicated with it,”
[Les rodenticides] cause coagulation problems in rats. Any bird of prey that will eat small rodents, mice or rats can be contaminated with what is in the rats.
Against these rodents, it rather proposes biological control using birds of prey. The peregrine falcon nesting boxes installed on the Jacques-Cartier bridge or on the roofs of skyscrapers, for example, make it possible to “naturally fight against rodents”.
A garbage problem
“Currently, the city is dirty, you only have to walk around Montreal to realize that waste is lying around everywhere. It creates a public health problem, ”says the To have to the interim leader of Ensemble Montreal, Aref Salem.
His team in the opposition has been hounding the administration in place on waste management and the proliferation of rats for years. The City’s recent decision to space out waste collection every two weeks in certain neighborhoods worries him.
“We, in Saint-Laurent, have already introduced bi-weekly collection since 2016. The problem is that, this time, [Montréal] gave people garbage bags. It works for us, because we have resealable bins. […] A plastic bag is tearable. »
Public trash cans without lids also contribute to feeding these undesirables, he points out. “An open trash can is a feast for a rat. We continue to feed the rats. If we put in place a progressive program to have garbage cans closed, we help to limit proliferation. We need a cleanliness brigade. Currently, we have no control. »
Finally, in the dock, we also find climate change, which will certainly facilitate the proliferation of critters in our cities.
“Wildlife is on the loose with hot, humid summers and mild winters,” says Nathaniel Leavey. The increase in vermin has therefore also been observed for several years elsewhere: “In rodents, but also in insects, wasps, ants, hares…”