CaRDS teams can function as the eyes and ears and ears of local government in the effort to mitigate rat infestations in your jurisdictions. We work with health departments, sanitation authorities, parks departments and even business improvement districts to implement a friendly, non-intrusive program. Our highly trained K-9s can detect rodents in any type of container at curbside or in any publicly accessible locations. Those findings are confirmed and documented by FLIR thermal images and the results reported to the appropriate authorities for follow up with property owners or others responsible for the site.
In general the CaRDS teams are deployed to specific neighborhoods or locations at the request of the agency. This usually occurs in response to complaints, reported rodent sightings or other indication of rodent infestation. More often than not, “hits” by the K-9 team can be traced back to a specific source location and that source, in turn, neutralized. Over time, this surveillance will identify rat reservoirs and other breeding grounds, that are appropriate sites for increased levels of conventional extermination.
This type of public detection is always conducted at night when rodent activity is at its highest. Our teams can be readily visible in marked safety vests or less conspicuous out of uniform. We welcome “walk alongs” by authorities, or even the public. The average tour of duty is about four hours in duration and reports will reach the client within 24 hours. We tend to avoid REALLY bad weather only because rain and high winds make scenting conditions unfavorable.
CaRDS has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide a program of identifying rodent reservoirs and migration patterns throughout a given area for both government and industry. This ground-breaking process works in concert with “boots-on-the-ground” surveillance to assure extermination efforts at manageable cost. The results of the DNA sequencing is provided to the client and relayed to those responsible for the extermination process.
The utilization CaRDS teams has an immediate effect in reducing payroll costs as well encouraging public participation in the rodent control effort. In cities like New York, we’ve found that we are often hired by individual property owners to survey their premises. Whether we find rodent infestations or not they are assured of an unbiased, cost-effective evaluations of their situation. At their request we can forward reports to the municipal authority.
Where CaRDS K-9s are used in public facilities such as parks, playgrounds and event facilities, we see an immediate reduction in extermination costs by being able to effectively target those efforts (and costs) where they are most needed.
Our managers are happy to attend public meetings, explain our capabilities and develop a customized service program that meets the needs of the community. The resultant savings in manpower and extermination supplies always offsets the cost of our surveys.