The rats invaded the garden of James Klein this spring.
In twenty years in the Montreal Snowdon district, he had never had a rats problem. But now, when he watches television in his living room, he sees them from the corner of his eye, waving in front of the glass door overlooking his terrace.
“It’s something indescribable,” he says.
Mr. Klein ignores why rats suddenly appeared. He thinks they may have been moved when the city did work on the pipes in its neighborhood earlier this year.
Whatever the reason, the result is that he has not eaten outside all summer. “One evening, there was a whole group that celebrated on my terrace; They were running in all directions and continued, ”he says.
“It’s just shocking. »»
Photo Graham Hughes, Canadian Press
James Klein
Mr. Klein is not the only one to sound the alarm concerning the population of rats in Montreal. The number of calls to the city concerning rats has increased sharply in recent years, despite the commitment to develop a rodent control plan taken two years ago by the municipal council.
Significant increase
The data obtained by the Canadian press indicates that more than 1,700 calls were made in Montreal at 311 in 2024 concerning rats. Two years earlier, this number was 1000. In some of the 19 arrondissements of the city, the number of calls has more than doubled during this period.
The city claims to take the situation seriously. She specifies that the districts are trying to control the rodents by inspections or by deploying exterminators.
But the opposition affirms that the city does not do enough to solve what it considers as an increasing problem, leaving residents alone in the face of an insoluble situation.
“During our borough council meetings, we noted a significantly higher number of residents raising the presence of rats in residential sectors where they would have normally never seen,” reported Stéphanie Valenzuela, municipal councilor of opposition in the district of Côte-des-Neiges-No. “This has repercussions on their daily lives, on their shops and on the quality of life of all. »»
In its arrondissement, calls to the city concerning rats have more than tripled between 2022 and 2024.
The city, which provided these figures in response to an access to information request, said that calls included complaints, comments and requests for information on rats.
The two districts that reported the most calls last year are Ville-Marie, which includes the entire city center of Montreal, and Villeray-Saint-Michel-Child-Expension. Between 2022 and 2024, the number of calls related to rats has more than doubled in the two districts.
Mme Valenzuela said that the municipality had not followed up on an opposition motion, adopted unanimously in 2023, which asked for the creation of a deratization plan.
This plan would have included measures to manage rats during work in the city sewers, and to replace the trash cans open with closed trash cans.
Mme Valenzuela, encourages residents to call 311 to complain.
A city spokesperson noted that Montreal already had rules aimed at maintaining the waterproof sewers during the works. “That said, maintaining a clean environment remains the best way to limit the presence of rats,” said Hugo Bourgoin, adding that each district is responsible for the management of its own rats population.
Mr. Klein said that one of his neighbors launched a petition concerning rodents last fall, but that she had not succeeded. At a meeting of the borough council in May, in response to a question on the presence of rats in the district of Mr. Klein, a municipal official replied that “the city’s intervention capacity remains rather limited”, because the traps and the poison cannot be used in public places.
“Let the city say essentially to us:” we can do nothing and you have to live with “is completely unacceptable,” said Mr. Klein.
Explain the invasion
Hélène Bouchard, president of two extermination companies in Montreal, has noted that it is difficult to know if the number of rats in the city is really up or if they have simply become more visible.
She added that the closure of restaurants and other businesses during the pandemic pushed rats to venture further into residential areas looking for food, and that these habits have been able to last.
“They have a good memory,” she explained. They will always take the same path to find their food sources. »»
She added that the proliferation of community gardens could also attract rodents, while sewer work could move rats colonies. Another problem is that people often take out their garbage the day before the collection, said Mr.me Bouchard; “It is a real buffet at will for rats. »»
Dark collection has become a controversial subject in Montreal in recent years, the city encouraging composting while reducing the frequency of collection in certain districts.
The administration of the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, tries to establish a collection of bimonthly garbage throughout the city by 2029. But Mme Valenzuela said that the city had not done enough to make sure that residents compost their food waste.
“Many things that could be composted and picked up every week are thrown in the trash,” she said. And this is one of the reasons why there has been an increase in dragging waste, which smells bad and attracting rodents. »»
Mr. Klein, however, assured that he had left nothing to eat at rats. He says he is disgusted each time he looks outside, while feeling helpless in the face of the problem.
“As a taxpayers, we can’t do anything,” he said. It is the city that must act. »»
