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Date: January 26, 2007
Contact: Shannon Wallace Public Information Coordinator (480) 312-7508
Barry Paceley NEIGHBORtoNEIGHBOR Campaign (602) 549-0401
Scottsdale and Phoenix Arcadia residents are joining forces for a fifth consecutive year in an effort to remove citrus fruit from area properties to help control the roof rat population.
Starting this Saturday, Jan. 27, through March 31, residents are encouraged to drop off all viable/edible fruit anytime Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the Elk's BPOE Scottsdale Lodge parking lot, 6398 E. Oak St.
During the 10-week Arcadia Citrus Drop-Off Program, quality fruit will be packaged by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department and donated to Arizona Indian communities, local food banks, senior homes and the MCSO jail system.
A free roof rat clinic will be held in the Elk’s Lodge parking lot every Saturday morning from 9-10:30 a.m. to provide homeowners information about rodent eradication, home-proofing and landscape care. Personal Use Bait Stations (PUBS) – used to house rodenticide – will also be available to residents for $5 each.
For more information, residents should contact the Arcadia NEIGHBORtoNEIGHBOR Campaign at (602) 273-0435, www.roofrat.net or the City of Scottsdale at
(480) 312-3111, www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Health/roofrats/default.asp.
Roof rats were first discovered in Maricopa County in 2001 in east Phoenix and Scottsdale neighborhoods. Through a partnership with Maricopa County and the Arcadia NEIGHBORtoNEIGHBOR Campaign, Scottsdale residents have learned that in addition to baiting their properties, annual removal of food sources and overgrown vegetation on their properties are the most effective ways to control individual property infestations.
Roof rats are tested by the Arizona Department of Health Services for plague, hantavirus and tularemia (rabbit fever). All tests continue to come back negative.
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