Rats on the rise in Civic Center park

From his camping spot in downtown Denver, Shawn Campbell is an eyewitness to a surge of rats in Denver’s Civic Center park. He most often sees them scurrying at midnight or 1 a.m., when he’s sleeping in the grass of the crownjewel park.

“One of these days, I’m going to report it,” said Campbell, 31. “I’m not scared of them, but if they come by me …”

Many of the park’s daytime visitors have never seen the rodents, but the telltale signs of burrowing and chewing have been significantly more common in the last year, according to city staff members. It’s part of an increase in the number of rats citywide and statewide.

“Based on complaints and refer

rals, we do think that there hasbeenanuptickintherodent population in the areas … right around Civic Center,” said Danica Lee, director of the city’s public health inspections division.

A Denver Post reporter, Elizabeth Hernandez, was horrified to realize on one recent evening that a swaying patch of grass contained “giant rats.” A companion said she saw a half dozen scurrying in every direction.

And the rodents seem to be adapting, too.

“Some of the rats have learned that they can eat through the bottom of the trash cans. They’re plastic,” said Deputy Parks Director Scott Gilmore. City crews even found burrows leading directly beneath the cans.

Defensive measures

The rodent reports were most common in December and January, and the city has since managed to cut down their numbers, according to Gilmore. But the local government doesn’t have data to put an exact number to the change, Lee said.

With the growing city population, there’s “an increase in people leaving trash, which actually is a food source for them,” said parks spokeswoman Cyndi Karvaski. It can be especially bad after an event or festival if there’s trash left out, she added.

Hernandez saw the rats Sept.6,afewdaysafterthe Taste of Colorado food festival,andshesawsomecorncobs scattered near the rats. The city said the event was fully cleaned up by Sept. 4.

The city has tried to stem the tide by replacing the plastic elements of its Civic Center trash cans with new metal parts. Denver also pays a contract exterminator, which has plied its trade with some success, Gilmore said.

The city has asked charity groups to be more careful as they hand out sandwiches and other food to people in need. And, on a recent weekday, the park had signs directing users to public bathrooms — an indirect way to reduce the unsanitary threat.

Rats generally aren’t considered a serious health threat, Gilmore said, but he urged people not to feed or interact with them and other animals.

“They can absolutely spread disease, especially when we have instances of human feces around,” Lee said.

The facts of life

Some of this is out of Denver’s hands. For one thing, part of the open space is managed by state officials.

Plus, the Norway rat seen in Civic Center, also known as a brown rat, is one of the most common rats in the state and the nation. A colony “may infest the same alley, basement or building” for years — and the construction boom in Denver also has sent them scurrying across countless city blocks.

Meanwhile, the city and state overall have seen growing rat populations, possibly tied to the damaging effects of the mange disease on their predators, including foxes and coyotes, Gilmore said.

And it doesn’t help that rodent season is approaching. Norway rats’ breeding peaks in fall and spring, with mama rodents unleashing up to 12 pups in three weeks, according to the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Manage ment. The furry ones also may head indoors to look forfoodwhencoldweather arrives.

Part of the park

Rats aren’t the only rodents in city parks — in fact, the land is teeming with tiny rodent life. Look for the mounds left by pocket gophers, or the snowy tracks of the tiny vole. In turn, that population is a food source for a betterloved animal: the pairs of redtailed hawks that circle Civic Center.

“People are so busy with their lives,” Gilmore said. “They don’t see this amazing interaction of wildlife in Civic Center park.”

For some, though, ignorance is bliss. Panhnha Tran, 23, and his colleague William Alexander, 27, hadn’t spotted any rodents in their frequent lunch trips to the park.

“Thank God, no,” Tran said.