The Andover Health Division is asking property owners on a stretch of North Main Street to inspect their properties for signs of rats after receiving a complaint about increased rodent activity between Elm Square and the railroad overpass near Whole Foods.
“These problems need the full neighborhood to buy into addressing them; they don’t care about property lines, and are happy to live in one place and eat in another,” Andover Public Health Director Thomas Carbone said. “Each property owner must take action to address the items within their own control.”
Residents said in Facebook posts the problem has gotten increasingly worse since MassDOT replaced the bridge over the MBTA railroad tracks in 2017 and 2018. Health Division inspectors inspected the area after receiving the complaint and found several places where rodent burrows were located, Carbone said.
The division is sending a flier to area residents outlining the steps they can take to help address the problem. Carbone outlined those steps in an email to Andover News:
- store garbage in water tight, covered containers
- keep animal food in plastic containers, and don’t feed animals outdoors
- Take in bird feeders.
- Clean up after domestic animals
- Eliminate standing water on your property
- Empty children’s pools and store them inverted
- Turn 5 gallon buckets and other pails upside down
- Eliminate bird baths
- Repair leaking hoses
- If you store water cans with water, store them indoors
- Keep swimming pools chlorinated
- Inspect yards for rodent burrows – behind bushes and decorations
- Fill holes in the foundation to keep them from entering the home
- Hire a pest control expert to address the problem
- Set traps, but remember that it is illegal to relocate a live animal
- Rodenticide is an option, but could have unintended consequences on the food chain, affecting other animals