Vancouver children kept from playground after compost bins attract rats

The City of Vancouver has a sterling national reputation for eco-consciousness, environmental awareness and supporting green initiatives.

It has been rated among the greenest cities in North America, has a transit strategy based strongly on getting people out of cars and onto bikes and continues to implement cutting-edge composting and recycling programs.

But there is a dark side to that green focus, and that dark side apparently comes with beady eyes, wiry hair and stringy tails.

Rats, that is. Pesky, potentially disease-carrying rodents that been calling the coastal city home for some time.

Vancouver's rat population most recently made headlines this week by invading a downtown community garden, or more specifically its compost bins.

According to CBC News, the rat problem grew so large that a neighbouring YMCA daycare has been forced to keep children indoors until the rodent dens have been cleared out.

"Rats are not something that are a particularly clean rodent, so we obviously want them nowhere near or in and around our facilities," spokesperson Kelly Walker told the network.

[ Related: Compost rats overrun Vancouver daycare playground ]

The City of Vancouver has been made aware of the problem and is working to clear the rats out of the community garden. It won't be easy, once rats have nested near something they identify as a food source, they tend to stick around.

The Composting Council of Canada, which is an actual thing, says all compost sites have the potential to attract rodents.

"Excessive or offensive odours are generally a sign that the composting process is not proceeding properly, usually because of inadequate aeration or excessive moisture," the council’s website states.

"Preventing odours and ensuring that the site is kept clean will ensure that the site does not attract rodents or other pests."

Statistics Canada reports that 77 per cent of Vancouverites composted their yard waste in 2011, well above the national average of 68 per cent. Composting experts say rats and other animals can be attracted to backyard composting piles when inappropriate material such as meat, bones and dairy is thrown in, or when kitchen food scraps are left too close to the surface of the pile.

That appears to be the case in Vancouver, with officials saying they believe some food scraps were left in a load of uncovered compost.

But even when the colony of rats has been exterminated, the trouble for city residents won't end.

The Globe and Mail reported last year that rat populations were on the rise in cities across British Columbia, aided specifically by the province's warm winters.

Two years ago, a significant infestation in a vacant downtown lot led to fears over the health of the area.

An ongoing Vancouver Rat Project is working to identify the risks the downtown rat population presents, and as part of the study learned that the rat population can vary greatly from block to block.

"We found that overall rat population size did not vary significantly from one season to the next and that rats seem to be breeding all year round," reads recently-released notes on the ecology of Vancouver's downtown rat population.

"However, there were seasonal difference in the rate of reproduction and population turnover. In other words, in some seasons there were more young being produced and greater numbers of adults dying off. So, rat population composition changes seasonally while the overall population size remains roughly the same."

With luck, the community garden’s rat problem will be sorted soon and the daycare’s children will again be able to play outside. And Vancouver will still have a rat population to address. But it’s important to note that composting doesn’t create a rat population, only that improper composting has the potential to attract one.

That’s something to consider, especially when those compost bins are located next to a children’s playground.

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