A young couple enjoy the afternoon sun in Confederation park, oblivious of the rat problem in Ottawa on Oct. 13, 2010.Blair Gable
There are too many rats in Ottawa.
Politically speaking, that may be self-evident. But in this case, it's the four-legged, beady-eyed, bewhiskered variety that is causing skin to crawl in Canada's capital. Genus rattus. The rodent blamed for the black plague.
Since the spring, the National Capital Commission has been receiving an unusually high number of complaints about rats in Confederation Park, a small patch of green space that faces city hall and lies next to the famed Rideau Canal.
There have been so many rat sightings that the commission has hired pest-control professionals to set poison-filled traps for the skinny-tailed pests.
"It is new for the NCC. It is definitely new for the park. It has not happened before. This is the year it happened," commission spokesman Jean Wolff said of the rat infestation.
No one knows what has caused the population explosion, Mr. Wolff added.
Perhaps the mild winter, which was followed by an early spring, was conducive to breeding. Perhaps an unusually large amount of construction in the downtown core has driven the critters into the parks. Or perhaps Ottawa's new green-box recycling program has provided enough compost to keep the rats fat and happy.
Whatever the reason, the rats have moved into Confederation Park.
Jay Harrison and his friend Geoff McAinsh-Moore have seen them darting between the bushes and climbing the tall concrete steps that lead to the bridge that spans the canal. The 17-year-olds claim they are not frightened by the rodents. But they don't like sharing a park with them either.
"I used to live down the street, so I would walk through here at night and, at 2 in the morning I would see them scurrying around," Mr. Harrison said. "It's kind of nasty."
Rats are nocturnal. But they can be spotted even when the sun is high in the sky, scampering under shrubbery, creeping through the leaves. Martin Lee, a biochemistry researcher who happened across reporters on a rat hunt on Wednesday, pointed to one of the rodents sitting in a clearing under a tree.
"They are very opportunistic. If there is food around, they will go for it," Mr. Lee said. "I am a little bit shocked that they are out during the day."
Rats are also smart, he said. Which makes him question the effectiveness of the many traps that have been placed around the park. Once the rats see the body of a dead rodent friend lying next to a box filled with poison, they are likely to give the spot a wide berth.
The pest-control experts are banking on the rats surviving long enough to crawl back in their holes and poison other rats.
Meanwhile, Ottawa's exterminators are doing a brisk business ridding homes of the furry pests, which are also populating suburban garages and feasting on the bounty from the green boxes.
David Saunders, president of Paramount Pest Control, said it's no coincidence that the rats are multiplying in the same year that Ottawa introduced the composting program.
"There's more rats for sure," Mr. Saunders said. "One hundred per cent more rats."
Organic matter that sits in a green box all week sending out the delicious aromas of banana peels, egg shells and oranges, is just too strong a temptation for rats to resist, Mr. Saunders said.
If a compost recycling bin is not closed properly, he said, the rodents will come.
"Animals sit there and they observe us, and when we make a mistake, they move in," he said. "As we get busier and doing things, people are in a big rush. And some things, if you don't do them right, definitely invite rats and mice. And I think that's why I am making more money."