Kirribilli rat sightings spark council eradication program after resident, business complaints

Unwelcome residents are making their presence felt in the well heeled suburb of Kirribilli as reports of rat sightings spark an eradication crackdown by the local council.

Unwelcome residents are making their presence felt in the well heeled suburb of Kirribilli as reports of rat sightings spark an eradication crackdown by the local council.

A growing vermin population is causing headaches for Kirribilli owners and shoppers who have reported being sprung by the four legged rodents in recent weeks.

North Sydney Council has confirmed a “pest problem” has been identified and council contractors have installed baiting stations as part of an eradication program.

Council staff have told a local community meeting bait stations have been installed in “hot spots” where garbage is generated by restaurants including on Burton St and Kirribilli Plaza.

Council rangers are also monitoring garbage that is not binned in a move to keep the rat population at bay.

Baiting stations such as these have been installed in Kirribilli.

Tony Morgan, who runs Morgans Cafe and San Antonio Sourdough Bakery, said rat sightings have been a growing concern over the last 12 months.

“We’ve been trying to get the council to fix the problem because it’s not good for business,” he said.

Rats have settled into the Kirribilli town centre.

“I’ve even had to pay $200 to get parts of the street sprayed outside to get on top of it.

“I saw one woman who was walking down the street and a rat ran right near her and I thought she was going to scream.”

Mr Morgan has partly blamed the burgeoning rat population on recent town centre upgrades that have included turning Burton St into a pedestrian zone with new wooden street furniture.

“When it was open to cars (rats) weren’t an issue,” he said. “Because they’ve gotten rid of cars and put in the old wooden street furniture and plants it’s given (rats) somewhere to live and they’re now coming out and having a big party.”

A photo of Kirribilli’s town centre.

Tony Binning from Bacari restaurant in Kirribilli said he was happy the council was taking action.

Olivia Cantwell, a real estate agent and Kirribilli resident said she “had a few rats sneak into the house and chew on some of our furniture”.

“It’s disgusting. Thank god council is doing something about it,” she said.

Keith Langley, owner of north shore vermin control company Shore Pest Services, said there had been an increase in rat sightings across the region in recent weeks.

He said other hotspot areas for rat sightings include busy food precincts such as Chatswood.

“At this time of year when the weather starts to warm up the rats tend to go more outside,” he said.

“People are also eating out more and when there’s more rubbish around that tends to correlate with an increase in sightings.”

North Sydney councillor Jilly Gibson has supported the council’s initiatives to get the Kirribilli rat problem under control, saying she has also received complaints about rats from residents living in the nearby suburb of Milson Point.

“Local businesses keep their premises clean, but unfortunately vermin is a part of living in the urban environment,” she said.

While the problem is causing a stink among business owners, a spokesman for the Governor-General said there had been “no rat sightings” at Admiralty House.

The Prime Minister’s Office was contacted about whether rats are a nuisance at Kirribilli House but did not respond to questions.

A North Sydney Council spokeswoman said major infrastructure projects on the north shore – including the Western Harbour Tunnel – may be contributing to the increase in rat sightings.

“Rats are attracted to food sources and environments where they can shelter and burrow and current major infrastructure projects may also be disturbing the areas where rats live,” she said.

“We are allocating resources to assist in mitigating this issue (and are) installing rat baiting in the hot spot areas.”

Recent estimates have placed Sydney’s rat population between 500 million and a billion rodents.