Ottawa residents living in 'horror' from rat infestation

Rat infestation in Kanata Kanata residents say they're living in what feels like a horror movie as they battle a rat infestation. CTV's Austin Lee reports.

Halloween is right around the corner, but residents of a South Kanata community say they've been living in what feels like a horror movie for over a month.

Rats have taken over the neighbourhood – living in the walls and chewing through property.

Area residents say one of the units of a townhome is to blame, with the residents there hoarding thousands of items inside and giving potentially hundreds of rats the perfect place to live.

Residents Kim Hallarn and Sylvain Scyrenne live on the far end of four-unit rowhouse. Since July, they say they've been seeing and hearing the rodents in and around the place they've called home for 15 years.

"At least every week we were finding these dead rodents and we're talking very large. Size of a small dog frankly," Kim said.

Hallarn said she contacted police, bylaw, Ottawa Public Health and her local councillor, but said there was little movement regarding her complaints.

"Unfortunately, I think people thought I had Mickey and Minnie down the street, and that was not the case. Nobody was listening. This was catastrophic. This was horror. Dead rats in our yard, dead rats in our house," Kim said.

CTV News visited the property and spoke to workers on site, but the owner was not there.

Eventually, Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services stepped in and forced the owner to bring in pest control, conduct repairs and clean-up the property.

Area residents who spoke to CTV News say they've been seeing trucks coming and going, taking away mountains of trash that have been piled up in front of this home.

“Work began on Friday, and we are expecting things to be completed later on [Wednesday]. That is to clean out the various items inside the home,” said program manager for Ottawa bylaw, Jennifer Therkelsen.

“So far what we have heard is that there has been 24 tonnes of items removed from the home. In addition, as items are removed, pest management and mitigation does begin, and that has begun, but that will be a lengthy process for this location.”

Ottawa's bylaw department said in an interview that it can be challenging for them to step in these situations, but that this is one of the worst cases they have seen.

"This certainly is one of the most severe we've seen in terms of the amount of items inside the home and the level of infestation," said Therkelsen.

"These are not small rats, this is a lengthy process and it is a well-established infestation."

If the owner of the house does not comply, Therkelsen says this type of situation could carry a fine of up to $100,000.

“It falls under the Provincial Building Code Act, so it becomes very expensive very fast and very convoluted,” says Therkelsen.

“It’s up to $100,000 now if they are non-compliant and continue to be non-compliant with us.”

Residents say while they're thankful the issue is being mitigated, there is still a lot of work to be done.

"It's not over," Hallarn said.

"We still have the rats now that are trying to figure out where they're going to go. They have been fed very well, they had a very warm home and they're going to move."

Jason Costantini from Orkin Canada says if you believe rats are living inside your home, acting fast is important.

“Usually rats are really obvious. They leave large droppings. If you're starting to see them, that could be just the beginning of an infestation. Obviously, you don't want to leave that for too long because it's that much harder for us to get rid of it,” said Costantini.

“What's really important, though, is one person may be doing their part, but it's really important that you know the neighbours are doing their part too, because you might have done everything possible on your end, but if it's a neighbourhood, or the neighbours are not on board or doing the same things, then you're always going to have activity.”

When a colony first starts, it can grow quite quickly, he said.

“They can have seven to eight pups, maybe three or four times a year,” he said.