Vancouver named B.C.'s rattiest city for fourth year running

VANCOUVER — Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, take a moment to bask in the pride of being named top of the heap for a fourth year running: Vancouver has just been named B.C.'s Rattiest City of 2020.

Pest control pros Orkin Canada released their rankings this week for the B.C. cities home to the most rat infestations, and - perhaps not shockingly - Vancover comes in at number one.

"Cities are ranked by the number of rodent (rat and mice) treatments the company performed from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. This ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments," explains Orkin Canada.

And because we are nothing if not consistent about our rodent infestations in B.C., the top five-ranked cities in the province have remained unchanged for the past two years.

Image via Orkin Canada

Following Vancouver in our badge of honour/mark of shame are Victoria, Burnaby, Richmond, and Surrey to round out the top five.

The City of Vancouver has a guide on how to identify a rat or mouse infestation including keeping an eye out for burrows, noises, droppings and chew marks. The most common rodents in the Vancouver area are the Norway (brown) rat, the roof (black) rat and the house mouse.

Of course, people actively try to control the rat population, but it isn’t always an easy task. Nevertheless, the BC SPCA reminds residents to choose humane ways of doing so.

Visit here for our guide on how to handle living in B.C.'s rattiest city (the humane way).

Here are the Rattiest Cities in B.C. 2020:

1. Vancouver
2. Victoria
3. Burnaby
4. Richmond
5. Surrey
6. Kelowna
7. Langley
8. North Vancouver
9. Coquitlam
10. Abbotsford
11. Vernon
12. Delta
13. Port Coquitlam
14. Duncan
15. Chilliwack
16. Sidney
17. Nanaimo
18. Maple Ridge
19. Terrace
20. Powell River

With files from Elana Shepert

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