Waimano Rats

Waimano Rats

Posted to OHE on 2 November 2012 by Chase Norton

I would like to elaborate on an issue briefly mentioned by Nate yesterday. I have been regularly camping on the summit of Waimano for over three years. Over that time, I’ve been glad to notice increasing use of the trail to the summit; however, this seems to be coming at a price.

Often now, when I reach the summit, I am noticing more and more trash—mostly food— strewn about. This last trip made it painfully obvious that something needs to be done. As you may or may not know, my shelter setup does not separate me from the environment (just a tarp).

Around 1:00 a.m., I was awakened by large rats playing around on my sleeping bag. Startled, I grabbed my machete and proceeded to defend camp until about 4:00 a.m., when activity finally died down. Throughout this time, I saw groups of 7–8 rats at any given moment, running around mainly in the area immediately south of the Waimano sign.

I was able to kill two of them but cannot imagine that I even put a dent in the population up there. In the end, they chewed through my backpack and got to my food. Habitually, I always put my food in my pack and my pack under my sleeping bag because of rat problems in the north. I never would have imagined they could chew large holes in a pack that has fought with the KST countless times and come out with very little damage.

I mention this because this is a very new occurrence for me, as I have never seen nor heard anything like what was experienced last weekend at Waimano. I will be going back up to do a thorough cleanup of the summit area and ask that we all realize that a small bit of trash can turn into a very big problem—though I highly doubt the people on this listserv are the ones who need to hear this message.

Beyond disturbed sleep, rats can have many other negative effects on our island. I would also like to know if it is within a civilian’s legal power to set up rat traps, similar to those on the northern section, or who I might talk to in order to obtain such permission.

— Chase