Mewsbrook Park in West Sussex had an issue with a rat colony living on a small boating lake island, known locally as “Rat Island”.
Background
AGS One were called in to address the rat problem on the boating lake island.
Members of the public were reporting that while feeding the ducks, rats would often swim over and eat the bread too! In addition to being some of the less desirable wildlife in the park, rats pose a risk to other animals, particularly ground nesting birds, as rats will eat their eggs.
AGS One Pest Control Officers accessed the island by boat to assess what was required – luckily one of them is an RNLI crew member!
The Work
This job was challenging because of the environmental risk. There are lots of ground nesting birds/wildfowl on the island such as swans, coots, moorhens and ducks, meaning traps could not be used (non-target risk), and most pesticides cannot be used near open watercourses because of the potential for seepage and poisoning of watercourses.
We therefore relied on a novel product which is registered for ‘open space baiting’ and is considerably lower risk to non-target animals. It also does not accumulate in the environment ie, it readily breaks down.
Treatment was delayed a few weeks to allow wildfowl birds to finish nesting and the young to develop/fledge, to prevent accidental access to bait.
The Result
After several follow up visits to check and replenish the tamper resistant bait stations, no further rat activity was evident. All bait was removed and the site can now be monitored from viewing platforms with the option of seasonal treatments if necessary.
A positive outcome for both the locals and the duck population of the island.
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