Seattle Waterfront Project Puts Spotlight on Rodent Threat

SEATTLE, Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a state-of-art, bi-level tunnel is an impressive engineering feat to say the least. What are not so impressive are the threats to local business owners' health and property due to the increased foraging activity of rodents and other pests who call the waterfront home.

Rodents have been portrayed in movies as furry, inquisitive creatures who take on human like qualities. The reality is that rodents are dirty, disease-transmitting pests that can make people sick and cause significant damage to structures.

"Rats eat and contaminate food and damage and destroy materials by gnawing," says Mark Schmidt, manager of Sprague Pest Solutions' Seattle service center. "They are also a human health concern as disease carriers or vectors."

The most common way rats transmit disease organisms is by contaminating food with their droppings and urine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rodents can transit leptospirosis, rat-bite fever and salmonella by infecting food and water with their urine and droppings.

Their destructive prowess extends to chewing on electrical and computer wiring (causing a potential fire hazard), and gnawing at wood framing around windows and doors to gain entry into a structure.

Rats are primarily nocturnal and although they constantly explore their surroundings, they shy away from changes to their habitat. This is why the massive tunnel project along Seattle's waterfront has upset the well-established rodent population that has called this area of the city home for generations.

Sprague's Schmidt says Norway rats – the species most commonly found along the waterfront – prefer to nest in burrows in the soil along piles of rubbish, sewers, vacant lots, under concrete slabs, and in basements and lower portions of buildings in piles of debris or merchandise as long as they are not disturbed.

Tacoma-based Sprague Pest Solutions is encouraging business owners along the waterfront and surrounding downtown areas to review their property's pest defense plans.

For more information on how to protect your business from rodent and pest infestations, contact Sprague Pest Solutions at 206/323-5660, e-mail at [email protected] or at www.spraguepest.com/seattletunnel. You can also follow the company's Twitter feed on the situation @Ratpocalypse.

Sprague Pest Solutions, founded in 1926, delivers innovative pest solutions to clients throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and parts of Montana, Wyoming and Nevada. Sprague is a Copesan Services partner.

SOURCE Sprague Pest Solutions