Sudbury deemed 9th 'rattiest' city in Ontario

Greater Sudbury is climbing the charts butnot for reasons you might hope.

Orkin Canada, a pest control company, put together a list of Ontario's 25 "rattiest cities." Greater Sudbury claims spot number 9.

To create the list, the company ranked the number of rodent treatments they performed in each city during 2016. The rankings include both commercial and residential treatments.

Rats always on the move

Andy Briere is Orkin Canada's branch manager for northern Ontario. He saysthere are places in Sudbury that are predisposed to rat infestations. That includes buildings near landfills, railways and construction sites.

"If you're looking on the Kingsway, they're blasting," Briere says."Anytime you do construction, you're invading their habitat, so they're on the move. They're going to be looking to find another spot."

Per capita not taken into account

Brieresays he was surprised Sudbury ranked so high on the list. He says bigger cities have more underground trains where rodents can nest and reproduce. He also mentioned the list probably doesn't take calls per capita into account.

If you do want to prevent rats from your home or workplace, Briere suggests covering up "entry points," meaning places rodents could get in like vents that aren't covered or old door frames. He also says it doesn't hurt to tidy up your yard.

"Take away the trees, the foliage that's around the house. Keep it niceand clean and trimmed," Briere says. "Any place that they're going to nest, hide or stay. If you can eliminate all that, they'llmove on for sure."