A Centredale woman says she has not seen any rodents
recently, but says some of her neighbors still see them.
By Richard C.
Dujardin
Journal
Staff Writer
North
Providence
– Some of the residents in one Centredale neighborhood say they are
beginning to see some signs of progress in their war against rats.
Mary
Ferreira, who had reported last month catching 26 rats over a six-month period
outside her home at 37 Byron St. reported yesterday that she and her husband
have not noticed or caught any rodents in the last three weeks.
“It’s
not that the problem has gone away,” she said. “Some of our
neighbors on Ferncliff Avenue and Byron Street say they still see rats, but we
do think it’s getting better. I think the challenge right now is to get
everyone to cover their garbage. We do notice a lot more neighbors who have
their trash cans covered, but there are still a few who don’t.”
“The
rats are never going to go away completely,” said Luigi DelPonte, who
lives near Bailey’s Pub on Smith Street and who has long complained about
rats.
But
DelPonte said he, too, believes the situation is getting better. “We have
to educate all the neighbors that they need to cover their garbage cans and
clean them once in a while,” he said. “Convincing them to do it is
the hardest part.”
Back
on July 9, Mayor Charles A. Lombardi invited a pest control expert to speak to
area residents about ways to control the rats. The expert, Anthony Tudino, of A
& D Professional Pest Control, said it is possible to get rid of rats, by
denying them a food source.
Lombardi
said yesterday that it is too early to declare victory, but he thinks the town
and the area residents are starting to get a handle on the problem.
“It’s
a day-to-day thing. It has been another job for our inspectors to make sure
people are getting their barrels covered,” Lombardi said. If we can
eliminate the food source, we can make a difference.” Besides covering
their garbage, residents have taken other steps as well, sometimes with an
assist from the town.
Ferreira
noted that she and her husband used to see rat holes underneath their deck
until her husband installed bricks around the deck to make it less accessible.
“I suppose they could dig new holes,” Ferreira said. “But we
haven’t seen any.”
As
part of his war against rats, DelPonte recently removed two sheds that, it
turns out, had rats nesting underneath. Because one of the sheds was large and
heavy, he got an assistant from the mayor, who sent over a bulldozer from the
public works garage to help him move it.
“It’s
not our policy to go on private property,” Lombardi said. “But I
felt this was a special situation. This was a public safety issue and the man
needed a little help getting his shed moved.”
DelPonte
said he thinks taking away the sheds has made a difference, but he also plans
to cement the area around his garage to make it more difficult for any rodents
to dig their way in.
“I don’t think we want to let up pressuring our town officials. We don’t want to let down our guard,” he said. “The rats may never go away completely, but maybe we can get them to go back where they came from.”