Cooler Weather Means the Rats Will Soon be Coming Indoors. Cover the Pizza, Please

Maybe you have seen this video of a rat in the New York City subway carrying a slice of pizza down the stairs to nibble. Ewww. It was posted by comedian Matt Little, a perfect example of what happens when humans toss food anywhere instead of where it belongs: the garbage – 

the slice found its way into the grip of an ambitious rat that dragged it down the stairs of the First Avenue L station in Manhattan early Monday. A video of the spectacle spread quickly online, amassing more than two million views on YouTube, and a star was born: Pizza Rat.

Sounds like that clock business with Ahmed in Irving. Maybe Pizza Rat will be invited to the White House!

We know New York City has a terrible rat problem: people living in close proximity, create tons of garbage, and sometimes that garbage doesn’t make it to the circular file. To encourage riders to carry their garbage (carry their garbage?), the MTA has taken away trash cans from 39 subway stations. So folks drop food scraps and then this happens. The New York state comptroller is not pleased with this trash experiment,  because trash removal is still a huge challenge in NYC:

              The authority says about 40 tons of trash are removed from the system’s 3,500 trash containers each day

The ones that are still standing, that is.  Dallas also has a rat problem, though we can never seem to get exact figures on how many rodents are shadowing us. A June story in the Dallas Observer was titled “Dallas Has a Rat Problem and it May Be Getting Worse,” though in the actual body of the article there was nothing, no figures, to support a proliferation of rats but rather more awareness… ” not in the rat population but in our awareness. Rats have lived with people for centuries. Fifty years ago, some Americans would call a pest guy, others would put out poison. Beyond that, the rat problem was never addressed, and it remained until the housing boom of the early 2000s, when homeowners became aware of the damage rats had inflicted on their property. Dr. Mike Merchant, a scientist who studies pest management at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, says that as Dallas grows and its neighborhoods age, more people are being exposed to rat legions.”

It wasn’t until the early 2000’s? Surely they mean the 2000 century, not the year 2000. Because we dealt with rats in 1985.

Physically, Dallas can grow no more. Neither can Plano. Frisco can grow, Prosper can grow. Dr. Merchant probably means that the higher the density we jam into Dallas neighborhoods, the more rats we will likely see, just like New York City. Plus we have creeks and more neighborhoods for the rats to hang out in milder weather.  Where is rat-central in Dallas? The Park Cities:

All a growing rat needs is shelter, food and water. What better than an urban environment rich with trash, berries, pecans, acorns, untended attics, dog food, old tool-sheds, bird feeders, copious trees and lots of water, because Dallas loves its green lawns. Flush grass, despite any chemicals it’s sprayed with, gives birth to insects. Rats eat those too. “They love munching on roaches,” says Johnson. The Park Cities, with its luscious, ornate and well-watered landscaping, is a Disney World for the nose-twitching set. When a grass field is razed to make way for a mansion, just remember that its builders are setting out a door mat to welcome more than people.

Ewww.