PEST CONRTOL
IS IT TIME TO REVIEW RODENT CONTROL MEASURES?
Gulliver Hill, Technical Director at SUPERPROOF, gives us ten reasons why it could be time to reassess rodenticide use.
1. The Rise of the Super Rat
The main response to mouse or rat infestations inside buildings is to put down poisons, or rodenticides, through a process of baiting. However, there is increasing concern over resistance to rodenticides. Researchers at the University of Huddersfield have identified ‘super rats’ that are resistant to anti-coagulant rodenticides. They calculate 70% of all rats in South East England are of the super rat type. For these, baiting is more like a feeding programme than a pest control one.
2. Rodenticide resistance is likely to increase
Natural selection is creating a population of mice and rats that are increasingly poison-resistant. Poisons should only ever be used as a last resort once habitat manipulation, habitat restriction and control of food supply has been carried out.
3. The Super Mouse
Through a process called behavioural resistance, rodents learn to avoid places and things that harm them. So, mice and rats will change their behaviour patterns to avoid bait boxes and traps. The British Pest Control Association has identified Super Mice, rodents that are rodenticide-resistant and can out-smart traps, as the biggest future challenge to pest control.
4. Rodents are born survivors
They are evolved to expand their population rapidly. The three limiting factors are shelter, warmth and
32 | TOMORROW’S FM 6. Risks posed to wildlife
Owls and other birds of prey are regularly killed by preying on rodents that have eaten bait; the RSPB and wildlife charities are getting increasingly vocal about the problem.
7. Reputational risk
Animal welfare activists are using social media to challenge baiting and trapping. The Humane Society International is campaigning for glue traps to be banned. FM clients and their employees are likely to begin to raise more concerns about rodenticide or trap use as a result.
food supply. So, if you put down rodenticide or traps, without tackling these three environmental factors, the rodent population will never be eradicated, and will quickly re- establish itself when the pest control cycle comes to an end.
5. Odour problems
For example, both mice and rats live in the fabric of buildings, so poisoned animals die in the walls, in the roof space or under the floors of your clients’ business premises. As they rot, this leads to odour problems, and the risk of maggot and fly infestations.
“NATURAL SELECTION IS CREATING A POPULATION OF
MICE AND RATS THAT ARE INCREASINGLY POISON-RESISTANT.”
It is certainly a consideration when devising environmental management systems for tenders.
8. Increasing legislative pressure
It makes sense for FM companies to consider the implications of a more restrictive pest control environment. Since June 2016, the HSE require all those using professional rodenticides outdoors to hold a competence certificate. Currently, the EU regulates the use of rodenticides. Post-Brexit, the UK Government and the HSE are likely to continue to require the pest control industry to justify their use.
9. Rising cost
Longer and more frequent baiting programmes (if the law will allow) will be needed. More onerous safety procedures may be required. It will not be easy for FM companies to advise clients that they will have to pay more for a less-effective pest control regime.
10. Searches for better pest control solutions
More forward-thinking pest control professionals see the key as being those three environmental factors: shelter, warmth and food. If rodents can be prevented from reaching their food supply, they have no choice but to leave. This is achieved by a rodent proofing a building’s human space from the inside out. All possible rodent entry points are identified and blocked. Rodenticides are reserved for sparing use in very specific cases, if at all.
www.superproof.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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