Rats are back in the crosshairs of Sicamous council after a couple of the critters decided to shop local.

Coun. Bob Evans revisited the issue after a local business owner reported seeing a 含羞草研究社渞at walk through the front door含羞草研究社� of his store and had to help remove one from a neighbouring location. 

含羞草研究社淭his is just small anecdotal evidence of a big problem we have,含羞草研究社� he pointed out, asking about options. 含羞草研究社淐an we... consider kind of getting aggressive with this and bringing in Orkin with traps and getting some rat hit men on the job, or something like that.含羞草研究社�

Operations manager Darrell Symbaluk explained that the district has thus far 含羞草研究社渇ought back含羞草研究社� with education of cleaning up compost, fruit fall and garbage. 

含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檙e continually pushing out that information as best we can,含羞草研究社� he said, adding that he含羞草研究社檒l also look into Orkin and whether or not they use poison.

In response to Evans含羞草研究社� query about traps the district used to have available for use by the public, Symbaluk said they含羞草研究社檙e baited with poison and can含羞草研究社檛 be used due to the threat to birds of prey and other predators. He wasn含羞草研究社檛, however, sure about other, safer bait options for the traps. 

含羞草研究社淚 can take that as an information request,含羞草研究社� Symbaluk said. 含羞草研究社淎nd reach out to somebody that does rats for a living and see what we can come up with.含羞草研究社�

As a restaurateur, Coun.Ian Baillie has explored options to keep vermin away from his establishments and said there a number of 含羞草研究社渘on-poison but lethal含羞草研究社� routes certified by the province that the district could look at. With that and other suggestions on the table, council directed Symbaluk to work with Baillie in exploring different options that would work for the community.