http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2016/08/29/rat-infestation-in-niagara-falls

The city is trying to get on top of an ongoing rat problem in the community.

“We’re looking at each case that we have. We’re getting public health involved as far as distributing literature,” said city clerk Dean Iorfida.

“We’re baiting sewers. If there is a property nearby that may be suspect, we are inspecting those.”

Iorfida said the city has been doing a lot of research about the issue this summer, which is not necessarily the fault of anybody.

“(It was a) warmer winter, which meant that the rats were able to populate — they were able to breed, so there’s more of them,” he said. “It’s not necessarily your neighbour down the street causing the rats.”

Mayor Jim Diodati said it’s a region-wide issue, with a seemingly different animal problem each year.

“One year it might be a certain kind of moth, and right now it’s rats. It’s around the region, it’s not unique to us.”

Iorfida said staff hope to come back with a protocol this fall.

“What we’ve wanted to do is try to engage experts — to find the root problem as far as why they’re there,” he said.

Iorfida said sometimes rats are present in an area because their habitat was disrupted by construction, causing rats to move to a different location.

Yeah, that’s the problem with rats. No matter how hard we try, they just keep moving on and we can’t quite exterminate them.