Rodents emerge again as concern for Bay Roberts council

By Mark Squibb/April 6 2023

Rats were back on the Bay Roberts council table, that is as a subject, when councillor Silas Badcock brought forward a concern at the behest of a resident last week.

“We discussed this during our budget process, and I think we determined that we weren’t going to put a large amount of funds into rodent control, but we did say that we would go ahead with some public awareness,” said Badcock. “And so, I’m just wondering, have we done that yet? Or can we get started on that to make people aware of the rodent concern.”

He said many people have reached out to council regarding rodents.

“Personally, I would have budgeted a lot more than we did, but since that didn’t happen, we still have to go ahead with our public awareness,” said Badcock.

Town CAO Nigel Black said the public awareness campaign hasn’t been put together yet, but that the Town can “make it happen,” especially as the snow melts and we enter warmer weather.

It’s not the first-time rodents have been a topic of discussion in the council chambers. The issue arises periodically during the year nearly every year. So this past budget, council earmarked money towards a rodent awareness campaign.

Mayor Walter Yetman said the rationale for putting money towards a public awareness campaign is that there are many preventative measures to controlling rodent populations.

“There are always reasons why there are rats in certain areas,” said Yetman. “There’s reasons for it.”

Yetman also noted that implementing plastic garbage bins may go a long way in curbing the problem.

It wasn’t the first time Yetman had floated the idea of implanting a plastic garbage bin policy to help curb the rodent problem, having done so back in fall of 2021 and then again in the fall of 2022.

Deputy Mayor Geoff Seymour wondered what further steps the Town would be willing to take, should the need arise.

“We’ve stressed that we are going to be big on the proactive side with the education piece and we’ve budgeted money for it,” said Seymour. “But I’m assuming that if we need to be reactive at some point, if we have a major outbreak, I assume we’ll take the steps if it warrants it?”

Black said the Town has certainly taken such steps in the past, but added those steps haven’t necessarily been budgeted for.

Yetman said that, “rest assured,” the Town would deal with a situation should it arise, but further stressed the importance of the education effort.

“There are preventative measures,” said Yetman. “And we have to get those out to the public.”