By Lexi O’Neil

Last Wednesday, February 19, the Somerville City Council Rodent Committee reconvened to discuss the concerns surrounding SGARs and what can be done to continue their efforts in eradicating a long-standing rodent problem that affects the residents of Somerville. Though great success has been made in the last few years, efforts are still being made to eliminate harmful rodenticides while also encouraging Somerville residents to continue calling in with their rodent concerns.

The following was discussed with the Committee members:

Rodent report trends

621 reports in 2024, lower than previous years. Hot spots on Winter Hill, showing a new concentration compared to the previous year. This area had a low concentration and has now seen an exceeding amount. However, exceedingly fewer rodents reported since 2016.

Factors influencing populations

Changes in climate, such as milder winters, ensure rodents will be out more often, thus increasing the number of reports and is always considered when reviewing population sightings. The newest council members have helped to reduce these populations due to new implementations for eradication with encouragement for residents to call in so they can immediately target issues. This has taken a positive decline since 2019.

Violations and ordinances

Most violation tickets (3,545, up 918 counts since 2023) were for generalized trash complaints and there were 181 rodent/pest control violations. Most of this has to do with Somerville residents failing to comply with not putting overflowing/messy amounts of trash onto the curb every week, and also for harboring and lack of care on properties, which allow rodents to burrow undisturbed. They are finalizing ordinances on vacant property concerns that should be ready by early summer.

Council’s strategies

The council has been devising new plans for how to continue the work on maintaining the city’s rodent population, including but not limited to: seasonal mailers that remind folks every Spring and Fall about how to manage trash and reports during peak seasons, communication leads on concerns via the council’s social media pages, and workshopping with SOIA, specifically on how to manage food/shelter resources to diminish homelessness encampments and thus, eradicating extra rodent infestations.

New innovative measures

The cities of Cambridge and Somerville have rolled out a new field test study where non-toxic hormonal fertility control products, called Evolve, are being implemented to assist in new and safer efforts for diminishing rodents. Somerville High School, they’re maintaining the trash frequently and have been the test site to use the most amount of Evolve. They have also recently announced that they are still looking for volunteers to help with having bait placed on their property and helping with re-baiting existing traps.

SGARs ban and wildlife protection

Concerns about the owls ingesting SGARs have been extremely harmful, and the banning of SGARs on public properties in multiple cities has helped to protect other wildlife in the meantime. Residents have been extremely supportive of banning SGARs and councils are working to ban them on private property, but this is not finalized just yet. The council is struggling to find where the poisonous prey is being ingested by the local birds of prey. Traps have even been altered to ensure less damage to aid in tracking. All SGARs should be replaced with snap traps by this point. By using Vitamin D-based rodenticides, rats will die from more natural means, as their bodies can only handle a specific amount of Vitamin D, instead of the use of harmful poisons in the environment.

Ongoing efforts

The City of Somerville is still working endlessly to focus on current legislation that is posing to ban SGARs completely across the state, along with other forms of rodenticides that impact both wildlife and eradication.