The city that gets the worst award: the city with the most rats and voted the dirtiest

Humans have existed Fighting rats For many years, however During the epidemic, the rats seemed to win. In 2021, reports of rodents to the New York City 311 helpline exceeded pre-pandemic levels. This year too, the same number of complaints have accumulated.

But according to an annual study by pest control company Orc, Chicago is the city with the most rats in AmericaFor the eighth consecutive year. New York is secondMoving up from third place last year, Continue to Los Angeles, Washington Y San Francisco. The study ranked cities based on the number of new rodenticide treatments performed.

Benjamin Hotel, Orkin’s entomologist, couldn’t quite say of Chicago that it continued to be “dirty,” but he said, like New York, “It is a densely populated city and has sections with structural problems.” Those cracks and crevices are an invitation to insects.

New buildings are sealed better, but Rats are smart: They are trained to hunt down earthquake survivors and mine victims. That psychic power will defeat the efforts of the destroyers. “It’s interesting to go from very predictable insects, to vertebrates like mice, which have very complex behaviours,” Dr Hotel said.

Cockroaches generally don’t avoid new things, he said, and rats crawl right into traps while being wary of new things. “They can get into PVC pipes, chew through wires, chew through walls,” he said.

Cars are not immune either.. Rodents have been known to nest in them and chew on the “tasty” soy-based wire insulation. A terrifying rat scene unfolded in Japan in 2013, two years after the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, when a prolonged blackout shut down key cooling systems, threatening another meltdown. Suspected cause: Damage to electric cables by rats, whose charred remains were found at construction sites.

Both Chicagoans and New Yorkers can actually take some solace Norway ratsThose who like to live underground, Dominant species in both cities. Roof rats, more common in other areas, are climbers. Perhaps citizens prefer local rats running on the ground to lurking in the dark from above.

These are the US cities with the worst rat problems, based on the number of new rodent treatments performed by Orkin from September 1, 2021, to August 31, 2022.

The New York Times