Got Rats? These Cities Have Taken to Zapping Them

GettyImages/ Pierre Aden / EyeEm

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

One Northeast city’s success killing 1,000 rodents in less than a year with traps that rely on electric current is leading its neighbors to test the same technology.

Portland, Maine’s success greatly reducing its rat population has led other cities in New England to pursue the same rodent-control technology. 

Smart Boxes are industrial-grade above-ground traps that do not use toxic bait. The manufacturer says that when a rodent enters the trap, sensors detect movement and body heat and activate a “catch” function, instantly killing the rodent with an electrical current. Afterward, the rodent is put into a container and the trap resets.

In Portland, an increase in infrastructure sewer projects caused the city to see an uptick in rodent problems. To combat this problem in a "safe'' and "nontoxic" way, the city partnered with Modern Pest Services, a pest control firm, said Jessica Grondin, Portland's director of communications and digital services. Portland is the first municipality in the country to pilot the Smart Box technology and has had close to 1,000 captures since the 40 rat-trapping devices were installed on April 1, 2021 around the city.

"The program has been pretty successful so far and allows us to track movement and deploy things as necessary based on the numbers we are seeing," Grondin told Route Fifty. 

Another City Launches the Same Program

As part of Katjana Ballantyne’s 100-day agenda, the new mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts launched a five-month pilot program in January to bring the latest rodent-control technology to the city. Inspired by Portland's program, Somerville also partnered with Modern Pest Services and deployed 50 Smart Boxes. 

"We essentially saw a lot of similarities just in terms of population density and infrastructure density, the number of rodents that were inside and reported, Colin Zeigler, environmental health coordinator for Somerville, told Route Fifty. "And as we continued to research and developed a plan it just seemed like a no-brainer for us."

Portland has an estimated population of 68,000 and Somerville has about 81,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The city also hopes to work closely with the community since they are “the eyes and ears of the ground” to efficiently reduce the rodent problem, Zeigler said. 

Since the Somerville program launched Feb. 28, 39 rats have been captured, which Zeigler said is "really great results" and that it "provided us with some good information about specific box locations and how they're placed." As the weather gets warmer, the city expects those numbers to increase.

More Cities to Follow

After seeing the success, Cambridge, Massachusetts is considering implementing the rodent-control technology too. In fact, Zeigler said Somerville staff will be speaking with Cambridge officials next week about the boxes.

Cambridge issued a policy order March 7 that said the city manager must consult with the Department of Public Works to introduce the Smart Box rodent control system. The city manager is required to report their findings at the March 21 city council meeting.

Like many places large and small nationwide, Cambridge’s rodent problem has plagued the city for many years, according to the local news source Cambridge Day

Sixteen years ago, rats were “dripping out of the heaters” and 12 years ago, a council member’s backyard party was interrupted by about a half-dozen pests, leading him to declare “the rats have taken over.” Construction also had “unleashed the fury” of rats.

“We know that we have been doing all that we can to mitigate the rat problem here. But we are needing to use all the tools that are available in our toolbox, and [Smart Boxes are] just one more tool that we can consider,” Vice Mayor Alanna Mallon recently told Cambridge Day.

Over the years, cities have tried a variety of techniques to combat rats. For example, Chicago in 2016 took to suffocating the rodents by placing dry ice in their burrows.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.