BOISE, Idaho — During a meeting of the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, Idaho lawmakers listened as the deputy director of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, Lloyd Knight, spoke about the ongoing rat infestation that is affecting the Treasure Valley and Idaho as a whole.
Although no decisions were made during the committee hearing, Knight advised lawmakers that any move to tackle rat infestations at the state level would come with costs.
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Knight cited multiple available tools that could be used to combat rats, such as establishing "county abatement districts," which allow local and state officials to declare rats a public health and welfare hazard and set out to eliminate potential infestations.
Other avenues include cross-municipal cooperation between cities and counties, the utilization of deficiency warrants to fund pest mitigation, and, lastly, GIS mapping to identify problem regions where pest control efforts could be focused.
In closing, Knight noted that the legislature would have to direct the Department of Agriculture to take any action.
Sen. Ron Taylor (D- District 26) conceded that funding rat mitigation efforts outside of county abatement districts would likely be difficult during a deficit year, when state agencies are currently cutting costs at scale.
Carrie Semmelroth (D - District 17) asked Knight what it would take to get a GIS system up and running for rat populations, to which he replied, “Of all the options, [GIS mapping] is probably the easiest and cheapest thing we can do on our part."
