It’s a battle that has been going on for centuries – between humans and mice.
(Archived audio recording)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: The rat is a destroyer and killer who has evolved to adapt to human behavior. A mouse’s problem is a man’s problem.
SHAPIRO: Well, there’s a new battle going on in that war as cities in the Northeast are seeing an increase in complaints about rats. WBUR’s Walter Wuthmann in Boston says some cities are getting creative in trying to combat the rat infestation.
WALTER WUTHMANN, BYLINE: Outside this bike path in the dense city of Somerville, Michael Collins wanders through the woods and pulls out a metal box. He is an exterminator and the box is a trap. It kills rats with a small amount of electricity.
MICHAEL COLLINS: Nothing has been done on that one.
WUTHMANN: He went a few yards down the road and opened another box. It emits a pungent odor.
This guy – how long do you think he’s been dead?
Every time these traps kill, they send an email to the city. Somerville is the second city in the country to use this type of trap called a SMART box. Colin Zeigler, Somerville’s self-proclaimed rat king, said the trap data helps identify the location of a particular colony. The city can then address immediate problems, such as closing down landfills, filling in landfills and teaching people how to clean up their homes.
Collin ZIEGLER: We think they are the next step in rodent control and a good urban response.
WUTHMANN: Epidemics tip the balance in the ongoing war between humans and mice. After closures, major cities in the northeastern United States began to see more complaints about rats. Here’s Michael Parsons, an urban ecologist at Fordham University who studies wild rat populations.
MICHAEL PARSONS: It makes sense that when the restaurants close, the rats will need new places to feed. And – because they usually feed on restaurant waste in the garbage.
WUTHMANN: Parsons and his team analyzed 311 data in New York City and found complaints in areas near restaurants. Parsons said it appears the rats have moved from areas where restaurants are frequented into surrounding residential areas. People used to see rats once in a while and suddenly they started seeing a lot of them. Now that the feeding grounds are open again, Parsons believes some of the mice have stayed in their new territories, but others have migrated back to their old habitats. Boston 311 data shows complaints about rats rose 50% citywide last year compared to before the disaster. City workers are trying to respond to those complaints by killing the rats with carbon monoxide.
WUTHMANN: On a recent morning, a couple of sanitation workers removed a green metal machine wheel from Boston Common. They poured the pipe into the rat hole, and then began to fill it with gas. This is County Health Inspector Brendan Sheehan.
BRENDAN SHEEHAN: So what happens is the smoke comes down and fills the hole. When we see smoke coming from other graves, we start to close. That way, we know it’s a complete system.
WUTHMANN: Sheehan says carbon monoxide clears the rats by putting them to sleep slowly. Animal rights activists tend to agree that carbon monoxide is more humane than other forms of rodent control, especially poison. Rat poison also kills other animals such as hawks, owls and vultures that eat contaminated rats. It affects about 10,000 children in the United States each year and kills some animals. Some communities are eliminating rat poison altogether and are experimenting with alternatives such as edible rodenticides. Holly Elmore, an animal welfare researcher at the group Rethinking Priorities, believes we need to stop trying to completely eradicate rats.
HOLLY ELMORE: If they can’t do that on their islands, you know, spend millions of dollars to exterminate each rat, I mean, you can’t do it in your house. You cannot solve the problem by killing every mouse.
WUTHMANN: Somerville’s rat king feels the same way. Colin Ziegler says his town’s electric traps are part of the solution.
ZIEGLER: You can never solve a rat problem with traps alone. You have to look at food sources. You should look at water sources and shelter.
WUTHMANN: Although all the money has been spent on pest control technology, the city’s exterminators say nothing beats a dry yard and tightly closed trash can to keep out rats. For NPR News, I’m Walter Wuthmann in Boston. Text provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
