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washingtonpost OP t1_iuevdyd wrote

From reporters Dana Hedgpeth, Tara McCarty and Joe Fox:

They burrow in gardens and shelter in nests of shredded cardboard under stoops. In alleyways, they quench their thirst at leaky faucets and snack on liquids oozing from bags.

Rats are a fixture of urban life, but early in the pandemic, their populations in urban cores shrank as restaurants, parks and offices shut down — and their access to trash did too. But many adapted, desperate to survive. They ate off the bottom of restaurant doors in search of food, alpha male rats ate weaker ones, and a large number, to residents’ frustration, migrated.

“They’ve gotten into places where there were no rats, and now people are calling and saying, ‘I’ve lived here for 20 years and never seen a rat until now,’ ” said Gerard Brown, who oversees rodent control at D.C. Health.

Now with offices and restaurants opening up again, the rats are back as well.

“There’s a rat resurgence,” said Bobby Corrigan, among the world’s best-known rodentologists. “They may be bouncing back with larger families in both the urban core and in the more residential neighborhoods of D.C.”

Known formally as Rattus norvegicus, the brown rat is the species found in D.C.’s streets and many major cities. Most people agree that rats are gross and that they can cause health problems and property damage. They chew through wires in the walls of homes and cars. They can bite pets and humans, and if a person eats food contaminated by rat saliva, urine or feces, they can fall sick with diseases.

It’s tough to accurately count rat populations because the four-legged fiends are nocturnal and live among the shadows of alleys and sewers.

Orkin, one of the biggest pest control management companies in the country, ranked D.C. fourth in its annual ranking of the top 50 “rattiest cities,” placing it behind Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

In D.C., reports of rat sightings are up: The city service hotline has fielded more than 13,300 complaints in the 2022 fiscal year — compared with roughly 6,200 in the 2018 fiscal year, according to the city’s health department. Despite this increase, health officials said they haven’t seen a surge in rat-related illnesses.

More complaints mean more work for rat catchers: Before the pandemic, Scott Mullaney and his wife, Angie Mullaney — who run a business that uses Patterdale terriers to catch and kill rats — used to average about 25 rats at a job site. Now as people return to life and business as usual, their dogs catch closer to 60 per site some nights.

“They’re coming back with a vengeance,” Corrigan said.

Read more here. We put a whole video game in this too, wild right: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2022/dc-rats-thrive-pandemic/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com

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goddeszzilla t1_iuhkort wrote

Love the highlight on the business using terriers!!! Terriers are the best rat catchers.

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romulusjsp t1_iuhpxmg wrote

TIL there is a rat hotline

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BoozAlien t1_iui4pti wrote

Live rats are standing by. Call now and share your hottest rat fantasies with them.

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romulusjsp t1_iui5rnv wrote

“What are you wearing?”

“Squeak squeak”

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[deleted] t1_iuflr7e wrote

[deleted]

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lgrace_ t1_iuhuefj wrote

Omg that’s insane. I thought the rats near the Scott Circle encampment were bad. Where is that?

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don_denti t1_iugoijt wrote

Trash companies are reducing their services in DMV. You might notice some neighborhoods gettin reduced trash collection nowadays. They’re collectively looking into getting back with much much higher prices beginning of 2023.

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HamanitaMuscaria t1_iug2809 wrote

man rats j broke some sensors in my engine this week and im v salty i think one is like dead under the hood somewhere :(

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plantemime t1_iuhvugz wrote

Having the same issue. Just bought some rodent deterrent things for under your hood which blink and make ultrasonic sounds. Hopefully they work, don't know what else to do

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gustermedkit t1_iui2nwd wrote

Looking out my window in DuPont as I type - I count 13 out of 24 trash cans in the alley either 1) open because there are too many trash bags inside to close, or 2) compromised by a hole gnawed by rats. Residents not taking basic responsibility to discourage rats is an underrated contributing factor. Rats will never go away completely, but basic steps can help keep things under control.

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ehtooh t1_iuh8q4a wrote

I cannot read it, I have a phobia but did they offer any solutions or preventions, etc.?

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Less_Wrong_ t1_iuhjvjw wrote

Why don’t we just dump poison laced with bread crumbs in rat hotspots: Georgetown waterfront, inside the sewers for a month or so

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skiwhatwhat t1_iui96nz wrote

…is this sarcasm? If not, because all the other animals (wild and domestic) will end up eating it too, and it becomes more of a hazard for humans (particularly children).

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New-Consideration142 t1_iugg4ct wrote

Why don’t the city let some cats free?

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blind__panic t1_iugm3za wrote

Cats are not very good at killing rats and very good at killing small songbirds.

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New-Consideration142 t1_iugnv3n wrote

Interesting, I always thought cats were good at killing rats and mice

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BoozAlien t1_iui4870 wrote

Urban rats are maybe a little too large for the average cat. Some breeds of dogs, on the other hand, are extremely skillful at killing rats.

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sarathecookie t1_iuij24d wrote

Meh.

In my neighborhoot we have at least two 'cat ladies', who regularly feed a drove of feral cats who live here. There will be at least 10 cats at each 'feeding' everytime, more in breeding months.

Because of this, we see these feral cats with their sucessful rat hunt spoils, dangling from there mouths, every once in a while.

Even if they dont end up eating the whole thing, they definitely catch AND kill them regularly.

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WitnessedStranger t1_iuj69i1 wrote

Those ladies are feeding rats as much as they are cats by leaving food out.

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CaptainObvious110 t1_iuia9dt wrote

What kills me is that people don't just get dogs that are specially trained to kill rats and then let them do what they do and kill the doggone rats

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WitnessedStranger t1_iuj6dza wrote

They'll probably end up ingesting rat poison pretty quick if they did that.

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CaptainObvious110 t1_iuk97w0 wrote

Which is where "specially trained" comes to play. Dogs are very intelligent and perfectly capable of being trained to do what they need to do. They have been doing so for thousands of years so it's reasonable that they can continue to do so now.

Think about it....There are dogs that are used in hunting of other animals. Along the way, they could get bitten by a poisonous snake, they could get injured or even killed by the animal that's being hunted.

So the possibility of danger to them is understood and accounted for. They have a purpose and are able to accomplish it.

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Thismarno t1_iuhh7zi wrote

My cat catches mice and thinks they’re his new friends. Hunting instinct, yes. Killer instinct, nope!

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brodies t1_iui32jt wrote

My GF has two cats. Both are very interested in fast-moving toys, but one catches them, holds them, and then releases, waiting for them to start moving again. The other does anything and everything it takes to catch the toy and then immediately starts bunny kicking with her rear claws out doing her absolute damnedest to eviscerate the toy. She also spends her days slowly stalking up to the window chattering at the birds she so desperately wants to murder. Not sure how the first cat would do if he ever got outside, but she’d promptly decimate the bird and mouse population and declare herself god-emperor of what remains. That said, I think even she’d leave full-grown rats alone. Why risk it when there are so many easier targets out there?

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