A business owner says she plans to ramp up her efforts to fight rodents after shocked passersby spotted a pair of mice going to town on some treats in a store window at a Queen Street baklava shop late Saturday.
“It was disgusting because when I looked more I saw some mouse feces around the trays,” said Mohammad Valipour, who caught the mice on a video taken with his cellphone.
Speaking with CTV News Toronto Sunday, one of the owners of Meli baklava and chocolate bar said the mice were sniffing around a display of baklava that isn't served to customers.
“We cover everything, those are strictly for display, we would never serve anything that's not fresh,” Julie Kyriakaki said.
Kyriakaki said she has mousetraps all around the store, because the rodents have been an ongoing problem at the building, which is occupied by multiple food vendors.
“There's the racks there that they come under and through, and unfortunately or fortunately, this is a shared space and we can't block it,” Kyriakaki said.
The building property manager said Sunday that there are pest inspections once a month, and on an as-needed basis. However he said a notice will be issued to tenants not to leave food out at night.
But Kyriakaki said she’s not convinced that will stop the mice from roaming the countertops.
“Even if I didn't have food there, the mice would still be on the window because they go everywhere,” she said.
Other vendors in the building told CTV News that they have also had trouble keeping the mice at bay.
The baklava store passed its last city health inspection on February 6 and has a five-star rating on Yelp, but Kyriakaki said she will still be making changes going forward.
“We will cover even all the food that's exposed for display and we will pressure the management to take more measures,” she said.
- With a report by CTV News Toronto’s Miranda Anthistle
