This is not the rodent syndicate that the bill is targeting. (Photo via Shutterstock)

A new bill at the D.C. Council is putting the onus on businesses to curb the “exploding” rat population in the District.

The D.C. Department of Health Rodent Control Division has been warning about an increase in some of the city’s least beloved residents for more than a year.

“They spread disease and they do property damage,” says Gerard Brown, program manager of the Rodent Control Division. “If pest control were not performed, then it would be a disaster.”

Back in 2000, the Rodent Control Act created civil penalties for allowing rat-friendly conditions to fester and established enforcement services for DOH’s Rodent Control Division.

Now, the impressively-named “Making Rodent Syndicates Flee Restaurants, Interior Settings, Basements and Yards Amendment Act of 2017” amends that law to require that restaurants have a plan to keep away rats—like sealing off building openings and properly disposing of grease—and make having a rodent prevention plan part of a business’s application for a food establishment license. It would also establish a “Rodent Control Fund,” which would use money collected from fines towards future fights against the animals.

(Washington Business Journal reporter Michael Neibauer noted that the bill’s acronym is Mrs. Frisby, after children’s book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.)

The bill was introduced on Tuesday by Councilmembers Charles Allen of Ward 6, Brianne Nadeau of Ward 1, Brandon Todd of Ward 4, and Mary Cheh of Ward 3, and co-sponsored by At-large Councilmember David Grosso and Ward 2’s Jack Evans, prompted by complaints from residents who live near restaurants.

“It is a serious problem for a health and safety issue in our neighborhoods,” Allen told Fox 5. “I have heard a lot of neighbors talk about it—between the trash and grease, it is like a buffet for the rats.”

His spokesperson, Erik Salmi, says the bill is based off 2014 legislation introduced by then-Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, which never got a hearing. This year’s bill has been referred to the Committee on Health, which is chaired by Ward 7’s Vincent Gray.

Brown says that when rodent control staff conducted inspections, they’ve noticed an uptick in rat activity. “We believe the increase is due to the mild winters over the last decade or so,” he says. “A regular winter acts as a natural exterminator and helps us out, but that has not happened. We also have a lot of food waste, and that’s a major problem.”

So how can businesses “mitigate infestations of rats,” as the proposed law requires? Brown says that the the ideal would be for restaurants to store their trash inside, and only bring it out for collection, rather than have it sit out all night for rats to munch, though he recognizes that solution isn’t always feasible.

That’s why the city advocates for trash compactors, so much so that the council passed legislation that offers incentives to businesses that buy or lease the machines. Another option is to create rat-proof outdoor trash rooms (the creatures can get through openings as small as half an inch, says Brown).

Today, Brown is talking to businesses in Georgetown about ways they can rat-proof themselves. Residents can help, too. “Sanitation is pest control,” says Brown. “Put trash in the proper place. We try to do a lot of different things but the main thing is getting people to report it to 311 if they see a rat.”

Even if they just see one measly rat? “One rat is too many, and if you see one, there’s probably more,” says Brown. He says the Rodent Control Division has nine certified pest controllers who respond to the 311 calls, providing extermination on public property, and, with a property owner’s permission, the exterior of private land.

The exterminators are looking for the rat burrow, where anywhere from nine to 15 rats live, before some of them start migrating. (“Just like us—our families start to grow and somebody has to move,” says Brown.) “We use powder that we shoot directly inside the rat burrow,” he says. “The powder gets on the rats’ fur, and when they groom themselves, they eat it and die.”

There are other programs underway to stymie the increasing rat population, including a “Blue Collar Cats” initiative from the Humane Rescue Alliance that gives local businesses a feline to scare away rodents. DOH has also partnered with the National Parks Service to treat infestations.

But as innovative as humans can be, we’re dealing with some intelligent creatures. “Rats are geniuses,” says Brown. He says that National Geographic filmed much of the footage for its documentary Rat Genius right here in D.C.

Washington D C 2017 B22 0275 Introduced by Rachel Kurzius on Scribd