Corona Daily 415: The Pied Piper Effect

Do you miss going to a restaurant? Ordering more than necessary while chatting happily? A waiter clearing your unfinished dinner plate? Someone else misses it more than you do. The rats.

The last three months have been cataclysmic for urban rats. Rodentologists (such a profession exists) have noted their unusual, aggressive behavior. Rats are essentially nocturnal, but now they can be seen any time of the day. They are moving in parts of the cities not visited ever before. The British pest control association saw a 51% rise in rat call-outs since March. Two miles north of my house in Mumbai, rats have ravaged law books in the Small Cause Court library.

Rats are social animals. Living in colonies, their territory is generally limited to a 150-200 foot diameter. The colony outside a restaurant will be very loyal to it-a rat can spend its entire 2-3 year lifespan eating kitchen waste and night trash. Now with the closure of restaurants, cafes, and delis rats experience a famine. They are migrating en masse in search of food and water. They are so hungry and desperate; they are roaming during the day, unafraid of humans and traffic.

And rat cannibalism has begun. Rat colonies have a class system, and a complex hierarchy. Alpha male rats eat first, and have the first mating rights. They also get the best burrows and nests. Beta males and others may sleep outside a nest or burrow. The alpha rats are now killing other rats and eating the newborns. Landmark pest management in Chicago captured 19 rats between 20 April-20 May, but only two in the next two weeks, making them believe in rat cannibalism. Recently, I have come across a couple of wounded rats in my neighbourhood.

Rats are intelligent. They are usually wary about entering traps. Pest control associations report it is becoming easier to catch them. Rat baits with peanut butter, bacon and oats are trapping rats in a matter of minutes.

Does this mean the rat menace will go away? Not at all. A female rat can deliver litters of ten pups every few weeks. Cities like Chicago and New York have never managed to solve the rat problem. New York City has 2 million rats. Each of the 109 mayors of New York has had plans to snuff out the scourge. As NYT pointed out, their collective score is 0-109.

No matter where you live, check the space under your doors. If more than half inch, seal it. Plug up any holes in the house. Store food in safe locations. Clean plates thoroughly soon after eating. Don’t eat pizza in bed, in the toilet, on the couch, in the garden. Carefully dispose of garbage. (Remember rats chew through plastic bins). Set rat traps. Except in China and Vietnam, where they eat rats, coronavirus has not been found in rats. But they can very well transmit plague and leptospiriosis. We can do without those. If the situation becomes unbearable, contact your local pest control.

Rats can’t order takeaways, nor online. For their sake, we must look forward to the day when restaurants reopen, produce lots of night trash outside, and rat colonies resettle in their original homes.

Ravi