The city of Seattle started a new composting system last year, making us home to one of the most successful recycling programs in the country.
A year later, some Magnolia and Queen Anne residences believe that the combination of the new rules on composting, which allow meat and dairy in the city's food and yard waste bins, and a milder winter has contributed to an increase in our rat population.
Miya Cohen-Sieg, a Magnolia resident, said, "when I walk my dog, I see carcasses all over the neighborhood - often run over in the street." She explained "there has been a huge increase in evidence of rats in the past few years."
A resident of Queen Anne, Hannah Adams-Collier said, "we had to hire an exterminator. They were in our apartment. It was horrible."
According to a representative with Seattle Public Utility's garden hotline, the city's food and yard waste bins are made with "rodent resistant plastic." She explained that although it is always a possibility for rats to be attracted to homes because of the bins, a few simple precautions would help to keep that from happening:
• Don't throw just food in the bin, but surround it with yard waste or paper.
• Put the food in a paper bag or certified compostable bag before placing it in the bin.
• Wait to put the food scraps in the bin until the day it will be picked up by the city.
The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife explained that our state is home to Old World rats. Old World rats breed year-round, but reproduction is concentrated in the warmer months according to the WDFW Web site. This means that the cold weather during the winter months helps slow their reproductive patterns. Unfortunately for Seattle, last winter seemed to be just to a rat's liking.
It may also have been to Seattle's exterminator's liking. Aard Pest Control, an exterminator in King County, said that business has picked up in the last two years.
Don Pace, of Public Health Seattle & King County, who leads the ongoing battle against rats in the area, said in the Seattle Channel's CityStream series, that this year's mild winter might make it "the year of the rat."
He explained that a mild winter means a more active rat, which makes them able to have several liters a year. These rats may be drawn to a person's house by anything from smells that come from the food that is washed down the sink, to smells from a person's compost pile in the back yard.
"Food you wash in your kitchen sink or when you use your garbage disposal. They follow that scent from the sewers back up the pipe." Pace said that he has battled rats in one Magnolia sewer for about three years.
Some people speculate that new changes in the city's laws may further aggravate the problem. On June 30, Seattle Public Utilities released news of the city's new ordinance on recycling and composting for restaurants. In its news release it explained that as of July 1, its food service businesses are no longer allowed to throw away single-use food service ware and packaging.
Though reports of rats in the Magnolia area vary widely among residents, everyone agreed that taking simple precautions significantly reduces the risk of a rat infestation.[[In-content Ad]]
