Municipal urban rat management policies and programming in seven cities in the United States of America

Lee, Michael Joseph; Byers, Kaylee A.; Cox, Susan; Stephen, Craig; Patrick, David M.; Corrigan, Robert M.; Himsworth, Chelsea G.

doi:10.1080/07352166.2022.2091995

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Data analyzed in this study consisted of complaints about rats made to the municipal government of the City of Vancouver. Complaints were made by residents via the online VanConnect platform or via the 311-phone line [ 14 ]. Online submissions were written by the complainant.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban rats are the ‘fall-guy’: Resident motivations for municipal rat complaints

Lee,

Byers,

Guo

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Rats are an important issue in cities globally. Despite their ubiquity, perceptions and concerns about rats vary with circumstance and the context in which a person interacts with them. Municipal rat management programs are a service to communities and therefore must be responsive to the varied concerns of their residents. Understanding why communities are concerned about rats can help inform rat management programs to meet the specific needs of their residents. The objective of this study was to identify why the residents of Vancouver, Canada care about rats and what they want done to address them. To do this, we qualitatively analyzed 6,158 resident complaints about rats made to the city’s municipal government between January 2014 and May 2020. Using a qualitative descriptive coding process, we found that rats were a priority in a minority of cases. In general, people were more concerned about broader community issues, such as neighborhood disorder, of which rats were one part. Complaints tended to be made when problems were highly visible, nearby, and when the complainant wanted the city to take action to alleviate this issue, particularly when they were in and around their living spaces. The rates of complaints were highest in the most economically and socially deprived neighborhoods and lowest in the most privileged neighbourhoods. We synthesize this information with a view towards understanding how to develop objectives and actions for municipal management strategies that are grounded in community concerns.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban rats are the ‘fall-guy’: Resident motivations for municipal rat complaints

Lee,

Byers,

Guo

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

Self Cite

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“…A wide range of control intervention strategies have been directed towards the management of rodents. Unfortunately, most of those interventions have not yielded long-term solutions 25 , 26 , partly due to limited resources and a lack of robust surveillance systems 27 , 28 (that is, the procedures used for detecting the presence and or quantity of rodent infestation and target species, and the factors influencing their population in the environment in an attempt to propose a sustainable rodent management measures). Over-dependence on non-locally adapted control methods essentially based on chemicals have proven to sometimes produce unwanted and adverse side-effects 29 , and become less effective over time 30 , 31 probably because they lack the involvement of local residents during intervention efforts 32 – 34 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…hierarchical approach with centralised decision-making power, that neglect the inclusion of other stakeholders/parties and finally fail 37 . Also, these methods lack standardisation of proxies (such as rodent runs, burrows, faecal or gnawed material and rodent capturing) and results across study areas—specifically using reports of rodent sightings to evaluate infestation”, and ignoring the other important actors to develop innovative control strategies 28 , 30 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health

Awoniyi,

Barreto,

Argibay

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Rodents are notorious pests, known for transmitting major public health diseases and causing agricultural and economic losses. The lack of site-specific and national standardised rodent surveillance in several disadvantaged communities has rendered interventions targeted towards rodent control as often ineffective. Here, by using the example from a pilot case-study in the Bahamas, we present a unique experience wherein, through multidisciplinary and community engagement, we simultaneously developed a standardised national surveillance protocol, and performed two parallel but integrated activities: (1) eight days of theoretical and practical training of selected participants; and (2) a three-month post-training pilot rodent surveillance in the urban community of Over-the-Hill, Nassau, The Bahamas. To account for social and environmental conditions influencing rodent proliferation in the Bahamas, we engaged selected influential community members through a semi-structured interview and gathered additional site-specific information using a modified Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) exterior and interior rodent evaluation form, along with other validated instruments such as tracking plates and snap trapping, to test and establish a standardised site-specific rodent surveillance protocol tailored for the Bahamas. Our engagement with community members highlighted poor disposal of animal and human food, irregular garbage collection, unapproved refuse storage, lack of accessible dumpsters, poor bulk waste management, ownership problems and structural deficiencies as major factors fuelling rodent proliferation in the study areas. Accordingly, results from our pilot survey using active rodent signs (that is, the presence of rodent runs, burrows, faecal material or gnawed material) as a proxy of rodent infestation in a generalized linear model confirmed that the variables earlier identified during the community engagement program as significantly correlated with rodent activities (and capturing) across the study areas. The successful implementation of the novel site-specific protocol by trained participants, along with the correlation of their findings with those recorded during the community engagement program, underscores its suitability and applicability in disadvantaged urban settings. This experience should serve as a reference for promoting a standardised protocol for monitoring rodent activities in many disadvantaged urban settings of the Global South, while also fostering a holistic understanding of rodent proliferation. Through this pilot case-study, we advocate for the feasibility of developing sustainable rodent control interventions that are acceptable to both local communities and public authorities, particularly through the involvement of a multidisciplinary team of professionals and community members.

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Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health

Awoniyi

Barreto

Argibay

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Rodents have been reported to be associated with the transmission of major public health diseases as well as agricultural and economic losses. The lack of site-specific and national standardised rodent surveillance in several disadvantaged communities has rendered interventions targeted towards rodent control as often ineffective. Here, by using the example from a study in The Bahamas, we present a unique experience in which, through multidisciplinary and community engagement, we simultaneously developed a standardised national surveillance protocol, and performed two parallel but integrated activities: 1) eight days of theoretical and practical training of selected participants; and 2) a three-month post-training pilot rodent surveillance in the urban community of Over-the-Hill, Nassau, The Bahamas. In order to account for cultural and environmental conditions in The Bahamas, we modified the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) exterior and interior rodent evaluation form and other instruments that have been previously validated for evaluating rodent infestation (tracking plates and snap trapping) to test and to reach a standardised site-specific rodent surveillance protocol for The Bahamas. Our engagement with local communities pointed towards ownership problems, unapproved refuse storage, exposed garbage, sources of animal food, poor bulk wastes management and structural deficiencies as major factors fueling rodent proliferation in the study area. Accordingly, results from our pilot survey using a generalized linear model with a logistic link and binomially distributed error structure confirmed that these variables are significantly correlated with the rodent activities reported and monitored across the study area. Our successful experience could serve as a reference to encourage a standardised protocol for monitoring rodent activities in many disadvantaged urban settings of the Global South, while also aiding the holistic understanding of rodent proliferation. Through this case-study and pilot program, we advocate for the feasibility of developing sustainable rodent control interventions that can be acceptable for both local communities and public authorities, especially through the involvement of a multidisciplinary team of professionals and community members.

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Municipal urban rat management policies and programming in seven cities in the United States of America

Cited by 3 publications

References 23 publications

Urban rats are the ‘fall-guy’: Resident motivations for municipal rat complaints

Urban rats are the ‘fall-guy’: Resident motivations for municipal rat complaints

Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health

Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health

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