Grant County, WI Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

The rodent and vector rule in Grant County sits in § 191-5J of the Public Health Nuisance Ordinance, headed Food and breeding places for vermin, insects, etc. It makes a nuisance of accumulations of decayed animal or vegetable matter, trash, rubbish, garbage, rotting timber, bedding, packing materials, scrap metal, abandoned structures, and animal or human fecal matter, plus any other substance or condition that promotes flies, mosquitoes, lice, disease-carrying insects, rats or other vermin or their reproduction. The clause names areas in which such pests can live, nest or seek shelter. Section 191-5C adds unburied carcasses, meaning the carcass of an animal or fowl not intended for human consumption that is not buried or otherwise properly disposed of within a reasonable time period.

The Grant County Health Department, with the Grant County Board of Health, administers the ordinance, and § 191-6 makes its staff responsible for investigating every potential public health nuisance complaint. Section 191-4 puts abatement on the property owner. A written order sets the deadline, which the code lists as one day to five days for an immediate health hazard and 10 days to 30 days for other health hazards. When staff determine that a condition is an immediate health hazard, they can proceed immediately to have it abated and corrected. If the owner does not comply, Health Department staff can enter the property and abate the condition, and the County recovers the cost by lawsuit or as a special tax assessment on the property. The ordinance applies in unincorporated Grant County; Platteville, Lancaster and the other cities and villages run their own codes.