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Jamie Cleveland started his Ford Escape like he did every morning outside his Dartmouth, N.S., apartment building.
But on this day a warning light flashed on the dashboard of his SUV.
He was confused by the alert, which indicated a coolant issue, but decided to drive around to see if it was serious. Within minutes, more warning lights appeared.
Then the engine began to shake.
Cleveland pulled over and popped the hood. He said from what he saw, the problem could be only one thing: rats.
“You could see they chewed off all the wires. They were bare and there was a lot of feces all over my engine,” he said.
Cleveland has had to get his vehicle towed to a mechanic three separate times over the last year due to damage caused by rats. Each time it cost him $1,000.
Several residents in Dartmouth’s Highfield Park neighbourhood say their vehicles have been damaged by rats chewing the wires. Some say despite their complaints, nothing is being done about the pest problem and it’s getting worse.
There are “hundreds” of rats living in Cleveland’s parking lot alone and they’re getting more and more brazen, he said.
“It’s outrageous,” he said. “You can come here in the nighttime and they’re just like, ‘party time!’ Like, they’re all over the place.”
CBC News visited several parking lots in the neighbourhood one evening and, using infrared night vision binoculars, saw dozens of rats scurrying about.
‘Feels like no one is really responsible’
Cleveland and other residents say they’ve started parking on the street to avoid damage to their vehicles.
“It’s the talk of the building,” he said. “I know of about seven or eight people here that actually had [their vehicles damaged].”
The building Cleveland lives in is one of dozens of apartment complexes in the neighbourhood and residents in other buildings are experiencing the same issues.
“They aren’t scared 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’s afraid the landlord could retaliate against her.
Her boyfriend’s work vehicle was damaged by rats and she’s seen five others towed from her parking lot in recent weeks, she said.
She said she’s contacted everyone she can think of to try to get something done about the problem, but hasn’t had any success.
“I’ve reached out to multiple places like the rental office, the tenancy board and 311 trying to get help, and it feels like no one is really responsible or able to do anything,” she said.
When CBC News was interviewing the woman, another tenant entering the building said she spent $3,000 on vehicle repairs last week due to the rats.
Another resident in a nearby building said he’s afraid to go outside at night because of the number of rodents running around.
‘We’re doing everything in our power’
Highfield Park Residential Inc. owns 20 apartment buildings in the neighbourhood, including the complexes where residents say the rat problem is out of control.
“We are doing everything in our power to try and get it rectified,” said property manager Wanda Savoury.
Savoury said the volume of rats has definitely increased in recent years, which she believes is a result of all the construction happening in the area.
But she doesn’t believe the situation is worse than it is in other parts of Halifax Regional Municipality.
“Unfortunately it is happening all around the city. A lot of landlords are reporting the same issues,” Savoury said.
In addition to laying traps, she said a pest control company has also been hired to fumigate areas where it’s determined the rats are living.
The company has already completed fumigation at one of the properties and treatments at all 20 properties should be finished by the end of the week, Savoury said.
“We’ve seen a great improvement. So, that is why we’re going to continue to do it. It is quite expensive, but it’s well worth it.”
In the darkness of night, hundreds of rats can be seen and heard in the parking lots of an apartment complex in Dartmouth, N.S. CBC News visited the Highfield Park neighbourhood and used infrared and night vision to catch a glimpse of the destructive pests. The CBC’s Josh Hoffman reports.
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