By Fernando Cervantes Jr.

Rats are becoming a bigger problem in urban centers in Massachusetts and around the country, with residents reporting more and more rats everywhere.

Here in Somerville, this problem is being faced head-on by government officials who claimed a partial victory over rats on November 16. In a status update sent out to residents, the city of Somerville reported that its SMART pilot program has contributed to the capture of 1,050 rats.

In an interview with The Somerville Times, Colin Ziegler, Environmental Health Coordinator for the city, talked about the reaction from city officials to the results of the pilot program so far.

“A thousand is a fantastic number of rats considering that we only have 50 boxes, they’re being placed in different areas with different levels of activity,” Ziegler said. “A thousand rats in that type of situation is some fantastic data and information for us to process.”

50 SMART boxes were set up between February and July in four different areas around Somerville including Davis Square, Lexington Street Park, and both the Gilman Street and Macarthur Street neighborhoods.

“We wanted to place these boxes, which are electronically monitored and process rodent activity data in real-time while also capturing and eliminating them. Then sending that data to us for us to look at different concentrations and to assess our rodent control programs and better orient resources,” Ziegler said.

In the update to residents, officials announced that this pilot program has been expanded to two other locations in the city to expand the rodent data for city officials.

“The pilot program has expanded to Union Square and Lincoln Park and we are anxiously awaiting new data as we test some new environment types,” the message to residents said. “Union Square directly abuts residential and green space, and Lincoln Park – open space, near a school, dog park, community garden, and party areas.”

Looking ahead, Ziegler hopes to expand the program to other areas across the city. The ability to have a box or something similar in all parts of the city is important in having the data required to address the rodent issue in Somerville.

For more information on this and other elements of the SMART pilot program, visit: https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/programs/rodent-control-and-public-education.