District of West Vancouver is working with its facilities and parks contractor to move towards a trap-only way of dealing with rodents.
Nine Leemhuis, the Chief Administrative Officer of the District of West Vancouver, said staff is currently working with its contractors towards a ‘trap-only’ process to address rodent issues within the District.
Leemhuis was responding to concerns raised by West Vancouver citizen Lisa Brasso who wants the district to ban rodenticide that have been blamed for the secondary poisoning of owls.
While West Vancouver CAO said the district might move towards just trapping the rodents, she also noted that the ‘trap only’ process is not as effective in addressing the issue.
The rodents can create health and safety concerns for residents, she said, adding that there are also concerns that the traps may just inadvertently injure people.
In June last year, West Vancouver staff also conducted preliminary research into the banning of pesticide sales within the district.
The CAO said the research determined that current provincial legislation does not allow West Van to ban or control the sale of pesticides within the municipality.
“Our legal counsel advises that the same considerations would apply to the banning of rodenticides,” she said.
Leemhuis said further research on rodent control will also need to be conducted as the issue relates to Vancouver Coastal Health requirements, especially where food is being prepared and served in a facility.
“We will also continue to monitor the work of the District of North Vancouver; they are actively reviewing their approach to the use of rodenticides,” she noted.
District of North Vancouver said last year it will research alternative types of traps and controls for rodents because of the increasing number of owls being killed by secondary rodenticide poisoning.
DNV also plans to create a one-year pilot project on alternative rodent control methods at certain facilities. The report is expected to be released in 2020.
DNV staff told council in a report last year that they received several calls from people who found owls and other raptors dead, later confirmed to have been killed by eating rats infested with poison. Other animals are also dying of secondary poisoning, the report noted.
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