Cape Breton residents raise concerns about rats
John Sullivan has lived on his property in the Ashby neighbourhood in Sydney, N.S., for 30 years, and he's sick of finding burrow holes in his backyard.
"My neighbourhood - we're infested up here with rats,” Sullivan told CTV Atlantic on Tuesday.
Sullivan said he has seen 16 rats on his property since the snow melted.
A few years back, he found more than 30, and he feels more should be done to prevent rodents from having the run of his neighbourhood.
"I witnessed them running in my driveway last week here,” Sullivan said. “One got hit with a car. That's a good thing. That's another one we don't have to worry about, but he was going across the street to feed on another guy's garbage can."
Richard MacDonald, owner of Cape Breton Pest Control, said he has been getting more calls lately, some as far away as Antigonish, N.S.
He couldn't pinpoint any particular reason why there seems to be an increase in vermin lately, but says spring often comes with a spike in rodent activity.
"There's still some garbage leftover from the snow melt. Green bins, bird feeders are out and about so there's lots of food,” MacDonald said. "(We’re finding) rats in houses, in businesses, outside sometimes only, just out around the yard. A lot of vehicles."
In an interview with CTV Atlantic's Todd Battis, John and Elizabeth Abell, owners of Abell Pest Control, said their teams across the country have reported an unexpected amount of pest-related calls for this time of year.
"There's something about the warmer weather," Elizabeth Abell said.
Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillor Eldon MacDonald said he recently had to hire a trapper for a raccoon on his own property, noting there is nothing the municipality can do in terms of a widespread solution.
"Realistically, when you think about how many properties in the municipality there are, we would never be able to have an exterminator go into every property, every street, every neighbourhood and try to put down whether it's live traps or poison or method of control - we would never be able to do that across the municipality," MacDonald said.
Sullivan said he has contacted his councillor and his MLA about the issue and as a taxpayer feels something should be done.
"I shouldn't be here asking or begging for help again,” Sullivan said. “We've got a rat problem. Solve it."
MacDonald hopes increased efforts by the municipality to deal with vacant properties might help reduce the rodent problem.
"Rodents in specific are opportunistic," John Abell said. "Prevention is making sure your house is well-sealed,
"Pests need food, shelter and water. You interfere with any one of those things and you can actually control a pest situation."
For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING BMO clients face outages in Canada, U.S. following data centre fire alarm
Bank of Montreal clients on both sides of the border Thursday morning have reported outages with banking services. BMO said its technical team is investigating.
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
Want to turn off Meta AI? You can't - but there are some workarounds
If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed a new character pop up answering search queries or eagerly offering tidbits of information in your feeds, with varying degrees of accuracy.
opinion Trump's Republicans falling far behind in fundraising, infrastructure
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Washington political analyst Eric Ham explains how and why Republicans -- up and down the ballot -- are falling far behind Democrats in both fundraising and infrastructure.
Canadians are eyeing moves to these cities for more affordable housing
Faced with elevated housing prices, half of Canadians in the country's largest cities are considering moving to places with more affordable housing.
Canadians' interest in buying EVs fades as barriers, concerns remain: J.D. Power
A new study finds fewer Canadians say they're interested in buying an electric vehicle as concerns remain about limited driving ranges, high prices and a lack of charging stations.
McDonald's says US$18 Big Mac meal was an 'exception' and their prices haven't risen that much
McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases.