Seats of government seem to have problems with rats.
A case in point: during the first half of Canada’s existence as a nation, so many rats lived on Parliament Hill, they fed a large colony of feral cats.
However, in the 1950s, decision makers on the Hill started using pesticides to control rodents. The cats were out of a job, and for the next six decades, the felines were on the dole, like some resource-industry workers through the same years. Human volunteers took over care and feeding of the Parliamentary strays. This January, the Parliament Hill cat sanctuary closed forever.
Admittedly, cats could only control, not eradicate, Parliamentary rodents. Leaving out grain laced with poison kills rats more efficiently.
Sources for this article include:
Parliament Hill cat sanctuary closes – CBC News
Rat-free Anacapa Island – LA Times
Green lawns not worth the health risks: Doctors – Times Colonist
CAPE presentation to BC pesticides committee
More doctor reaction to pesticide decision – The Tyee
Killing rats is killing birds – Nature.com
