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Boston's pandemic rats eat their young
By adamg on Fri, 05/29/2020 - 3:07pm
DigBoston reports on increased rat sightings in both Boston and Cambridge as coronvirus deprives the rodents of a major food source - restaurant dumpsters, and quotes a Boston city rat expert who says local rats have gotten more aggressive in general and in terms of finding food in particular. More specifically, adult rats are now eating baby rats.
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Comments
Sweet dreams
I didn't need that in my head!
Yuck.
Has anyone mapped the rats this year?
A map of the rat sightings reported on 311 would be very interesting. I dont know how to do it but I'm wondering if anyone out there has done it.
Rat Population
Cruel though it might sound, in the end could this be a good thing for reducing the rat population? Though I suppose they are basically indestructible.
Magoo sez
Mwah see. You dirty rat. You did to Magoo’s little brother now Magoo’s gonna do it to you ratatatatat mwah see. Magoo.
I dug up a rat's nest yesterday
They burrowed under the brush pile in my backyard. Stinks of rat urine... It's bad. I've been living here for nearly six years, and it certainly seems like I've been seeing a lot more rats this year than I remember seeing in the past.
I miss my former neighbor's cat. The guy was an awful neighbor, but his cat was great, especially when it came to keeping the local rat population at bay. We have our own cat, but he's a softy who is not allowed outside.
Somebody, please airdrop some feral cats into Allston.
Possible Urban Legend
A popular possible urban legend while growing up in the East Boston and Winthrop areas in the 1960s was that skunks, which just suddenly seemed to start appearing out of nowhere, having not been seen in the area before then, had been specifically introduced to control the rat population. I never got to the bottom of whether it was true or not, and it still intrigues me a little bit this many years later.
Feral cats
I almost did a spit-take when I read the last word of that sentence. There was no shortage of them when I lived there but it's been a while.
Really
That's where my cats came from originally - adopted ferals from Allston.
Perhaps they prefer the south side of the Pike
There aren't very many around Lower Allston as far as I can tell. At least not in my neck of the woods. There have been a few "street" cats around over the years, but I'm pretty sure they were mostly pets.
Careful!
The last thing you need during a pandemic is hantavirus!
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/hantavirus
Thanks
I knew there was some kind of pathogen risk, couldn't remember the name though.
The brush pile was in a shaded corner and not especially dry, so I did not kick up much of any dust. I thoroughly wetted the area with a lawn sprinkler afterwards too, in an attempt to dilute the urine. The smell is nearly gone, so that seems to have worked pretty well. Regardless, I'm not going to be hanging out in that corner of the yard anytime soon.
I still have to dispose of the brush (only moved it enough to uncover and destroy the nest), so I'll up my PPE game and wear my respirator when that time comes.
As usual, no matter what we
As usual, no matter what we attempt, Mother Nature is in control. No matter how we keep abusing Mother Nature and the Earth, She still tries to keep everything in balance. Everything is all connected and has a purpose. If one thing gets out of whack, She handles it. And if you are relying on your feral cats to get rid of the rodents, then I hope you are contributing to the cost of de-worming them from the parasites caused by hunting and eating rodents. Educate yourselves.
rats
It's not only Boston that has rat problem. My son and a few friends share a ground floor apartment in downtown Salem. Everything has been good for 2 years. Except the last 2 months, they've killed 5 rats inside the apartment.
Their landlord doesn't care about the new rat problem.
Guess what?
Their landlord is responsible for the problem and required to take care of it.
https://www.mass.gov/guides/landlord-responsibilities
“Mother Nature has a purpose”
Nonsense.
Adorable?
What would Elmer say? Adorable? Miss you Elmer!
I miss Elmer too.
I think he would be sad about starving rats.
I know this one
Cannibal!
Review
I did not enjoy this content. 1 star out of 5.