Rat explosion in Valleyview

Photo: Castanet Staff - file photo

Valleyview residents are up in arms about an invasion of rats.

“This is crazy,” said Len Shaw, who’s trapped a dozen of them in the last two weeks. 

“I’ve lived in Kamloops for 20 years and in Valleyview for 12 years. I’ve never seen a rat in my life. It’s like an explosion of rats.”

His wife, Leslie, contacted the City of Kamloops about the problem, but there didn’t seem to be any concern.

“The city said it’s not our problem.”

Shaw has set half a dozen traps, which he sarcastically refers to as a trap line, to kill the animals. 

Mary Ellen Dalgleish at Purity Farm & Garden said: “I’ve caught 12 in one day in my barn."

In general, they get 15 or more customers a day who come in looking for a remedy for their rat problems.

“We sell a lot of rat control.”

Rats have a gestation period of only 28 days, so populations can quickly explode. Last year, someone in North Kamloops released pet rats, which were soon getting into compost and reproducing. One woman trapped 15.

Dalgleish said Norwegian brown rats have been showing up more lately, probably arriving via railway box cars or shipping containers from the Coast. Valleyview seems to be one of the hot spots, perhaps due to its proximity to the railway.

“There’s even a Facebook page about it.… There definitely are more of them.”

– NewsKamloops.com