Oh rats! Is it time for St. Catharines to revive its rat control rebate program?

Coun. Kevin Townsend has asked city staff to report back on what other municipalities are doing to address rats and assist residents after receiving frustrated calls from rodent-challenged citizens in his St. George’s ward.

“I’ve been receiving a lot of calls lately about the city and their need to step up and help some residents with rats,” Townsend said this week.

St. Catharines used to have a residential rat control rebate program that gave residents up to $200 to cover part of the cost of calling in a licensed pest control expert.

The program ran from 2018-22 but was not budgeted in 2023 onwards because of a decrease in interest in the program and the amount of staff resources required to administer it

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