By Nick Twietmeyer

Seattle has recently seen a considerable increase in its rat population. By some estimates Seattle is one of “the rattiest” cities in the U.S., coming in at number seven, with New Orleans listed as number one. Any way, if you want to crunch the numbers, the fact remains fairly obvious, the rat population has become increasingly more noticeable than in previous years, and Ballard seems to be an epicenter for the increase.

Rats prefer moist and dark areas like docks, retention ponds and crawl spaces instead of the commonly believed little door-shaped holes at the bottoms of walls. However with the recent renovations close-to-the-waterfront, such as the future vacation of Ballard’s infamous Fenpro building and Seattle’s tunnel project, the rats are moving out of their dens and moving up to our backyards.

The problem here is so bad that Seattle Public Health officials have made trips out to the local homeless encampments to ensure that residents are versed on safe practices in food storage and waste disposal in order to prevent attracting even more rats. In fact, according to Sharon Lee, Director of Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute, one of the reasons for the mandatory 12 -inch high platforms in these camps is to prevent the critters from burrowing under the shelters and setting up shop.

So what are we to do?

Enter: Erik Öland, who is to rats what a Terminator is to Sarah Connor (and we’re talking the first film here). As the owner of Puget Sound Rodent Exclusion Specialists, it is Öland’s task to shimmy down into Seattle’s dank and musty underbelly in order to seek and destroy the vermin that plague our city (pun sorta intended).

Öland estimates that he has experienced approximately 15 percent increase in business each year for the last five years.

“It has been really remarkable,” said Öland.”There’s never really any downtime; it’s been getting busier and busier”.

In fact, Öland has seen such an increase in rodent activity that he has been able to expand his business by adding an additional two trucks, all thanks to the rats.

But what can I do?

According to Öland, the best ways to handle rats around the home are to prevent the sort of things that attract them in the first place: one should ensure that food items are secured, garbage can lids are securely mitigating rats from moving in.

While this seems to be a city-wide problem, the city of Seattle still maintains that pest control remains the responsibility of the property owners. And with Ballard being home to numerous restaurants, which for obvious reasons don’t want to be associated with rodent activity, the problem is likely to continue until the city steps in.

One bartender, who asked not to be named, said, “While I’ve never seen one inside, they’re everywhere. They’re on the patio, by the dumpsters, everywhere. These rats are getting gentrified, they need to unionize, man”.