If you鈥檙e one of the many residents in Salmon Arm whose home is or has been plagued with rats recently, there is a small force of winged ones on your side.
Although American kestrels are the smallest of the falcons, Ed McDonald, president of the Shuswap Naturalist Club, said he has been surprised and somewhat happy to see them catching rats.
鈥淚 usually see them in the warmer times, going after grasshoppers and things like that. They鈥檙e a smaller raptor.鈥�
However, he has heard a few times in the last couple of months that they鈥檝e been busy attacking the pesky rat population in the Shuswap.
McDonald implores people not to use poison to kill rats or, if it is used, to make sure it鈥檚 a poison that won鈥檛 hurt raptors, squirrels or other species.
He points out that in the Burnaby Lake area on the Lower Mainland, an industrial complex was putting out poison for rats. Because raptors catch and eat rats, it also killed owls and other wildlife.
Resident Glynne Green recently saw a female kestrel with a rat in its talons on a line above 10th Street SE near Fifth Avenue SW. It then flew down about 20 yards and landed atop a tree where it proceeded to devour its prey.
鈥淚t had it there in its clutches and they just go at it, they rip into it,鈥� Green said.
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Another of the small falcons was seen on Feb. 26, gliding silently above a rat scurrying around a pile of snow on the highway side of Lakeshore Drive W near the former Windmill Meats location. The raptor, with a lightning fast and seemingly effortless move, grabbed the rodent in its talons, carried it to the top of a nearby pole and began ripping its fur off. After preparing its feast, the falcon quickly consumed it.
Toni Walton, manager of the Salmon Arm Buckerfield鈥檚, said the rat problem doesn鈥檛 seem to be diminishing. She said the store first noticed rat complaints growing in the summer, and people still are still coming in regularly.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a problem in this town. We sell tons of rat traps and we have a lot of commercial bait, but you have to buy a bait station to put it in. It鈥檚 just imperative that if you put bait out you protect it,鈥� she said. Also available is a rat zapper which electrocutes the rat.
Walton said while rats mean business for the store, she鈥檇 much rather they were gone.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a terrible thing. I鈥檇 rather sell more tulips鈥︹��
McDonald said he sees kestrels regularly on the wires in an area in the vicinity of Buckerfield鈥檚. He said they go into a nearby meadow where lots of mice can be found.
The naturalists get calls about kestrels and saw-whet owls hanging around chicken coops, but they鈥檙e not after chickens. They鈥檙e waiting for a taste of the mice and rats that may frequent the coops in search of food.
鈥淚鈥檝e always thought the kestrels would be too small (to go after rats), but they just grab those things and rip them apart,鈥� McDonald said. 鈥淲e take our hats off to the kestrel.鈥�
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