iN DISCUSSION: Rats. So many rats

This is where cold facts yield to the hottest of takes.

Here you’ll find reader responses to stories and newsletter editorials, or letters to the editor for the week of June 30. They may have been edited slightly for readability. The opinions expressed are not those of iNFOnews.ca, unless we occasionally add our own style, like this:

Countdown Timer

That’s our official Recall Tara Armstrong Countdown Clock!

Tara Armstrong is currently the MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream. She rode the coattails of the BC Conservative Party, got elected, then rejected and left the party to serve as an Independent because the Conservatives were too left wing. Now she gets to spout moronic, hateful rhetoric and claim that her riding supports her.

Elections BC says you can recall an MLA if 40% of eligible voters in the riding sign a recall petition — but not for the first 18 months after an election. Some people started an online petition calling for a byelection once she made a shift to Independent, then got herself a raise by forming her own party, but it won’t mean anything until the countdown clock hits zero.

So let the countdown begin!

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Fraud is her way of life: Crown wants 7 years for Kelowna bookkeeper who swiped $500K

Give her the 7 years. It’s about time people who steal from others, forever changing or ruining the victims’ lives, gets a penalty that might be a deterrent.

— Dianne Jackson, via iNFOnews.ca

I read about 20 articles a day at least, and this is one of the best articles I have read in some time.

Great article, Ben! I will look for your articles. Your writing style reminds me of Christie Blatchford. I hope that you take that as a compliment! :) 

— Sarah King, via email

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‘Unfair and flawed’: Tribunal orders ICBC to pay after it cancels victim’s treatment

How can an insurance company be dictating medical treatments! How have we let these companies how this much power and profit? ICBC should be brought to task for doing this crap to so many people. The last thing anyone needs in these moments is more stress and hardship tossed at them from the company they PAY to help and protect them! We need an open market for insurance in BC.

— Dick Dawson, via iNFOnews.ca

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BC movers damage furniture, deny responsibility, and then sue

I was a driver/mover. When I loaded a truck, all pieces of furniture were wrapped. I treated the furniture like it was my own. The part about signing a waiver for boxes packed by the person moving was done at the beginning of the move. But if the contents in the box were damaged by the way they were placed in the truck, I would then be liable for damages.

— Robert Trace, via iNFOnews.ca

How can this… behaviour from this company still be going on? How are they still in business? I know we have a consumer protections office in our government so… what are they doing? 

— Dick Dawson, via iNFOnews.ca

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Former professor using Freedom of Information to ‘air grievances’ with TRU

TRU fired him for blowing the whistle on it, and now he is painted as the villain in the story and not TRU. Wow, the sheer bias of the institutional apparatus in BC against the individual. Did TRU feed you this story? I guess it is an accurate account of the FOI commissioner’s findings, but the slant is totally in favour of TRU of course. Derek is cast as the villain for trying to defend himself.

— Peter Wylie, via iNFOnews.ca

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Groundwork laid to bring grizzly bears back to the Okanagan

There is an abundance of wildlife in the Okanagan. Black bear and cougars and deer in the inner cities should make good hunting for the grizzlies.

— John Trainor, via iNFOnews.ca

As a frequent user of the landscape said earlier and as a resident of the Okanagan, I can attest that Grizzlies are already on the landscape. And they are in fact already roaming into people’s backyards and killing livestock. With numerous northern Indigenous groups putting bounties on Grizzlies (Tahtlan and Blueberry River) I’m curious what the plan is for when the numbers become too great here as well?

— Mat Roersma, via iNFOnews.ca

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Penticton garden decimated by rats as spread continues

Barbecues are the number one attractant and any sort of food compost.
No one mentions that because people will not give up their BBQ. Instead they blame people who enjoy birds and yell at us to take down feeders.
I have this issue with cats. I am immunocompromised and cannot eat veggies that cats leave their waste around. Toxoplasmosis is a threat yet no one controls their cats, they come into my garden and poop all the time. I am not allowed to do anything about it so welcome to my world.
Rats are part of the natural world. We live in a province full of mountains and trees and raptors so they are here.
Do not poison them. That kills raptors like hawks and owls. Build a solid greenhouse or buy your veggies like everyone else has to.
There are lots of tips online to help but until BBQs giving off the scent of meat are outside, rats will continue to show up.

— Carole Greene, via iNFOnews.ca

My son lives behind and across the back alley of an IGA. They could not plant a garden due to the plethora of rats, due to the grocery store. Then they took in two feral cats and tamed them. The cats have kept their backyard free of rats permanently. I am hesitant to mention this as I am a strong advocate for keeping your invasive species (cats) indoors. Cats have already made many bird species extinct.

— Helen Price, via iNFOnews.ca

Yes of course. We are in Summerland and I’ve been trapping them for years now. One ran through the front yard yesterday afternoon which is common for us. Without a common front with everyone involved it’s not going to change.

— Rich Hunter, Summerland, via email

I too am a transplanted Albertan in my old age and do find it odd that there appears to be no effort by BC government agencies to do something. I am in Okanagan Falls and was very concerned when I moved here a few years ago and have had some problems with mice and rats and I keep working to keep them at bay (I think).
Keep up the good work!

— John Pinter, Okanagan Falls, via email

The government is full of them! That’s why nothing is done, only to help themselves.

— Gary Kamieniecki, via email

This is the fault of all the “fancy” dog owners. In the old days, a common rat terrier was acceptable, now a pedigree is a must and the dogs are too well fed. Bring back mangy rat terriers, I say.??

— Clint Price

We lived in Osoyoos for 19 years and never had a problem until someone in our strata started putting bird seed on the ground to feed the quail. This was totally unnecessary as the quail are very well fed naturally all year round.
Then we started to see rats, first in our yard and then heard them in our attic. 
We called a pest control company and that seemed to be working until we needed some electrical work done. Not good. In the end we had to have our attic completely cleared of insulation, all electrical wiring fixed or replaced. Then we had to have new insulation blown in. A $10,000+ bill we certainly have done without.
Rats are a big problem and need to be controlled.

— Bruce Bidinoff, Osoyoos, via email

Yes, I am concerned and yes we should definitely be doing something about them! The question is how to do it safely so we aren’t killing other animals that feed on them.

— Tracy Higgins, via email

Rats. We live downtown and this year there are many. 
There are people who truly believe that they are doing a good thing when they live trap and relocate the filthy little bastards. I believe that live-trappers of rats should have to live with their rescued vermin, somewhere the rest of us will never have to see. 
Please. Kill the rats. If you don’t have the temperament to kill them please pay an exterminator to do it for you. Ask a helpful neighbour. Get a cat. Do not make your rat infestation someone else’s problem. Curb your entitlement.

— Heather Ross, via email

Marshall, your concern about the rising rat population in the Okanagan is well taken. The Okanagan has a couple species of rats – Roof rats and Norway rats. Neither are native to the area, but females are capable of birthing about 900 new rats every year. Urbanization and climate warming are the friends of rats, an animal not known for friends.

When I lived in New York City, I saw them every day. Rats have been a problem since New York City was named New York City. During a garbage strike, I shooed at a rat nibbling garbage on the buffet-like sidewalk. He raised up on hind legs and hissed at me. At least they don’t carry knives. New York spends $3 million a year routinely. On top of that, anywhere from $10 million to $32 million is spent on special projects to rid the city of rats. Not going to happen, too much of a head start. After hundreds of millions of dollars, there’s one rat for every three New Yorkers — 3 million of them.

The Okanagan better start budgeting for trapping and birth control or get used to rats. By the way, the climate is projected to get warmer in the Okanagan, perfect!

— Don Thompson, Vernon, via email

I have lived in Penticton since 1977 and I have not only seen but killed (poisoned) a few rats over the years. Rats are not new to this area. Before Penticton became overpopulated, owls hunted at night and kept the vermin down. 
With the new garbage containers we have, it should be harder to get into, however rats are smart and can still get in. The worst places are behind restaurants and grocery stores.

So, who is responsible? I believe owners of these businesses should be checked more often and fined if they do not comply with better cleanliness standards.

— Sabina Notz, via email

My husband and I moved here to Kamloops in 2021 from Saskatchewan. Coming from a community that had farming we knew there might be a rat or three around the grain elevators or train loading areas, but they were few and far between, and not in anyone’s backyard. Steps were taken to make sure they were limited.

Now we are here. What a complete opposite to what we came from. Not only are they everywhere, it seems most people are not that worried about getting rid of them. The city has a ‘no responsibility policy’ for anything ‘animal’ related. Good grief! These things multiply faster than you want to believe, and can take over an area very quickly. It boggles my mind that there are no steps in place to eradicate this vermin that carry disease and damage everything around them.

We had two neighbouring properties stir up some rats in their yards in 2023. This caused them to move to a new area on the other side of our fence in another neighbours incredibly large brush pile. Let me tell you they must have felt they hit the jackpot on this new condo life they found. Plus we had the restaurant right next door with our bird feeder. They ate every plant I planted in our yard that year. So many dollars wasted and so much time.

When we realized what was happening, we were horrified. We took down the feeders until we could figure out how to keep the rats out of them. We tried to get our neighbour to remove the brush pile, but that has not happened. The city offered no help. We started looking into whatever methods we could to get rid of them. My husband killed over 30 of them. We still have bait traps out and only see one once in a while now, but it is never ending and none of our neighbours are participating in eradicating them. I am continually shocked that so little care is given to this very large problem.

I am so glad to see you bringing this problem to the public. I sure hope it gains some traction and something comes of it. Please don’t give up!

— Roni Sue Coulter, Kamloops, via email

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House arrest for Kelowna man who worked while claiming EI

Yet drug addicts get less for violent crimes. Ok then…

— Dick Dawson

Got something you want to add? Send an email to editor Marshall Jones at mjones@infonews.ca.

Disclaimer: Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed on this page are solely that of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the editor, iNFOnews.ca, iNFOTEL MULTIMEDIA, its partners, principals or advertisers.