Rat population on rise in the Berkshires, pest control companies report

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Pest control outfits working in the Berkshires say business is booming lately with rats.

Chris Quinn, operations director of Catseye Pest Control out of Castleton-on-Hudson, N.Y., said he's responded to 12 homes and eight businesses with rat issues this winter, a 50 percent increase over last year.

"Seemingly the population is growing or at least moving around," Quinn said.

Local rat issues are primarily concentrated to Pittsfield. Several cases in neighborhoods west of upper North Street saw Catseye remove upward of a dozen of the creatures each time.

But other residential rat calls in Cheshire, Great Barrington and Stockbridge Quinn called "complete surprises," and he said the company has also done work on River Street in Williamstown.

"It's odd how they pop up in various areas," Quinn said.

It's not easy to get rid of rats.

Rats remember. If anything new, like a trap, appears, they avoid it until plied with food for a day or two, after which they become more comfortable and may approach the device.

"They're diabolically clever," Quinn said.

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Rat population on rise in the Berkshires, pest control companies report