‘Hundreds’ of rats have taken over this Dartmouth parking lot. Now they are damaging vehicles

Jamie Cleveland starts his Ford Escape like he does every morning Outside their Dartmouth, NS, apartment building.

But this day a warning light flashed on the dashboard of his SUV.

He was confused by the alert, which indicated a coolant problem, but decided to drive the car to see if it was serious. Within minutes, more warning lights appeared.

Then the engine started shaking.

Cleveland pulled over and opened the hood. From what they saw, the problem could only be one thing: rats.

“You could see they chewed up all the wires. They were bare and there was a lot of feces all over my engine,” he said.

Cleveland has had to have his vehicle towed to a mechanic three separate times in the past year due to damage caused by rats. Each time it cost him $1,000.

Many residents of Dartmouth’s Highfield Park neighborhood say their vehicles have been damaged by rats chewing on wires. Some people say that despite their complaints, nothing is being done about the pest problem and it is getting worse.

There are “hundreds” of rats living in Cleveland parking lots alone, he said, and they are becoming more and more brazen.

“It’s outrageous,” he said. “You can come here at night and they’re just like ‘party time!’ Like, they’re all over the place.”

CBC News visited several parking lots in the neighborhood one evening and using infrared night vision binoculars saw dozens of rats running around.

‘It feels like no one is really responsible’

Cleveland and other residents say they have started parking on the street to prevent damage to their vehicles.

“It’s a matter of building,” he said. “I know about seven or eight people here whose vehicles were actually damaged.”

The building Cleveland lives in is one of dozens of apartment complexes in the neighborhood and residents of other buildings are experiencing similar problems.

“They’re not afraid of humans. They’ll run right at you,” said a woman who lives in an apartment building on Joseph Young Street.

CBC News is not identifying the woman because she said she fears the landlord may retaliate against her.

She said her boyfriend’s work vehicle had been damaged by rats and she had seen five others pulling them out of her parking spot in recent weeks.

She said she has contacted everyone she can to try to do something about the problem, but has had no success.

“I’ve been trying to get help at so many places, like the rental office, the tenancy board, and 311, and it seems like no one is really responsible or able to do anything,” she said.

While CBC News was interviewing the woman, another tenant who entered the building said he had spent $3,000 on vehicle repairs last week due to rats.

Another resident living in a nearby building said he is It is scary to go out at night because the number of rats roaming around is very high.

‘We are doing everything in our power’

Highfield Park Residential Inc. There are 20 apartment buildings in the neighborhood, including complexes where residents say the rat problem is out of control.

“We’re doing everything in our power to try to fix it,” said property manager Wanda Savory.

Savery said the rat population has definitely increased in recent years, something he believes is a result of all the construction taking place in the area.

But she doesn’t believe the situation is worse than other parts of the Halifax Regional Municipality.

“Unfortunately this is happening all over the city. A lot of homeowners are reporting the same issues,” Savery said.

In addition to laying traps, he said a pest control company has also been hired to fumigate areas where it has been determined that rats are living.

Savery said the company has already completed fumigation on one property and treatments on all 20 properties should be finished by the end of the week.

“We’ve seen a big improvement. So, we’ll keep it going. It’s quite expensive, but it’s worth it.”

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