A week of rat fighting began Monday in Somerville with a display of the city’s latest weapon: BurrowRx, which pumps carbon monoxide into burrows. It was introduced and demonstrated by mayor Jake Wilson and rat czar Alicia Privitt at the Milk Row Cemetery in Ward 2.
“Rats are tough and scrappy, but so is Somerville,” Wilson said.
DeRATification Week, which ends Sunday, is timed for the arrival of warmer weather that increases rodent activity and is about “giving residents the tools and know-how to hit rats where it hurts,” Wilson said.
The campaign offers city resources to residents and businesses through the city’s dedicated webpage – including a way to ask for a free property inspection for evidence of rats, and free control services. (Participating properties get a yard sign encouraging neighbors to join the City’s DeRATification effort.)
The city also has an updated dashboard for Smart Box rat traps, which lures in the animals and electrocutes them, and a map showing where the traps are placed and where they see the most activity. The traps killed nearly 100 rats during January and February.
Instructive videos are being rolled out with Wilson and Privitt walking through Union Square talking about how to spot early signs of rodent activity and shut it down before it spreads; showing successful containerization of trash to cut off rats’ food access; and how BurrowRx works.
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