Can I Be Forced To Put Down Rat Poison?

[godhandfan]

I have been asked by the council to deal with rats on my property. I have been using traps to catch them successfully, but obviously it is taking time to get them all. The man who came by today said that I am legally obliged to put poison on my property, but did not give me evidence of that. Can anybody tell me if that's the case? Thanks

[bert_h]

Assume that it isn't, until he produces something written. That is, assume that it's legal for you to not put down poison, as long as you're doing something else anti-rat-wise.

[hc4361]

Are they in your house or any sort of building?
You need to get rid of them quickly and trapping takes too long. They breed like rabbits so the longer you take to kill them the more there will be to kill.

If you have neighbours you really should get the pest control in and get the problem sorted now.

The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 places an obligation on owners or occupiers to control rats and mice on their property and to inform the local Council of infestations.
"Local councils also have enforcement powers to ensure that rodent control is carried out. If necessary enforcement notices can be served on the persons responsible for any land that is infested requiring that they are eradicated. If these notices are not complied with then powers are available to either carry out the works required directly and charge the costs or to take a court case."

http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/rats_pest_control

Trapping only works if you have one or two rats. If you still have rats after two or three weeks you definitely should use poison.

[woofgang]

Have you done all the other needful things? Clear rubbish, remove food sources and shelter, thoroughly disturb everywhere, cut back any garden overgrowth.

[godhandfan]

Well we are complying and we have had success catching multiple rats. If poison was put down, we'd have no idea how many rats were affected anyway, unlike with the traps which we have evidence of.

We have removed food sources etc yes.

I want to know if we specifically are forced by law to use poison, despite our success with the traps. How is "compliance" measured?

[RATTER15]

No, they cannot insist that you put poison down but they can insist that you deal with the problem in an effective manner, as a Pest Controller for 13 years I can tell you that it is very unlikely that trapping rats will be considered an effective method of rat control. Poison is the most effective method by far, or just get a Pest Control company to do the job for you,

[hc4361]

Why do you need to know how many rats were affected? It's more important to get rid than keep a tally

[RATTER15]

How long have you been tackling this problem with traps and when do you envisage the eradication being completed?

[askyourgran]

An infestation of rats is not pleasant nor welcomed by your neighbours, and the quickest and surest way of getting them before they breed any more is to use poison boxes or sticks of poison to be inserted in the hole eg underneath the house itself. Trapping takes too long only one per trap whereas poison is eaten by them all. I don't know if you can be forced to poison them, but if I were your neighbour and complained to the Health Dept they would probably ask you to comply or do it for you.

[RATTER15]

I agree hc4361a tally of rats mean nothing to nobody.

[black_cat51]

i thought HC's answer covered it very nicely

[TheWinner]

Sorry to hijack your thread godhandfan, but I would like to ask Ratter15 how to get rid of ants. we don't have any at the moment, but when they do appear in the summer, we hate them with a vengeance!

[kvalidir]

Are you catching them live and plonking them elsewhere Godhandfan because you have a moral or religious problem with killing them, or are you quite happy to kill them? If it's the latter just use bait boxes, if it's the former then you have rather a problem I think because live trapping is going to take from now 'til the end of never to work I'm afraid.

[Khandro]

I'm not skilled in law, but I would think you cannot be forced to do such a thing on your own property. Poison is a very imprecise method and quickly gets into the food chain, killing other animals, on that grounds alone you would have the freedom to object to such a demand, not to mention your civil rights. I doubt whether you could even be 'forced' into taking any action at all.
Law is based on precedent, and if the council continues in this demand, ask them to provide reference to a case where someone has been prosecuted for non-compliance with this demand.

[sherrardk]

Good grief, you must have loads of rats if the council is involved. Chuck some poison out in suitable traps and get rid of the nasty, dirty critters. Next door recently took down a shed and caused us a big rat problem but poison sorted them out (although I didn't reasonably deal with their corpses, yeuch).

[RATTER15]

Khandro, sorry you are very wrong "Poison is a very imprecise method and quickly gets into the food chain"

No it doesn't get into any food chain if it is put down as instructed on the directions, and any rat that has consumed the poison will not affect any other animal that then eats the rat.

[RATTER15]

The winner, generally speaking powders are the best against ants, find one that contains Bendiocarb. But you must track the ants back to the nest and puff the powder into and all around the nest.

[DrFilth]

> and any rat that has consumed the poison will not affect any other animal that then eats the rat. <

can't see that if mr fox eats the rat after he has eaten the poison then surely mr fox will at least get the tom t1ts

[TheWinner]

Thank you Ratter, but that is the problem, they get everywhere, but we don't know where the nest is. Put down ant traps, but they don't go in there, they are pretty smart ants. Put powder down and they don't take it back to the nest. It is so frustrating!

[Khandro]

Ratter, Sorry but you are entirely wrong. If a rat ingests poison and is then soon devoured by a hawk, the poison will kill the hawk and be present in it's corpse, which could then be eaten by a carrion crow, which while still alive could be captured by a fox which .......... etc.