With restaurants closed and fewer scraps in the dumpsters and alleys, rats have been resorting to cannibalism. The CDC last week warned of “unusual or aggressive rodent behavior” (I assume flame spurts and lightning sand will be next).
Many rats won’t survive this version of scavenger armageddon. But the population will rebound as restaurants reopen. And which ones will have survived to create the next generation of rats? The toughest, meanest suckers who will stop at nothing to feed. In 20 years when we’re all in bunkers fighting off onslaught after onslaught of super-rats, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Maybe cities with rodent problems could use this time to do some rodent control. I’d make a bet that starving rats would gobble up poisoned bait or eagerly enter baited traps. With fewer people out and about, pest control departments would have an easier time getting into places they need to be, tearing out walls to get at nests, etc.
It’s also a great opportunity to replace garbage cans and other structures that encourage rat infestation.
I guess that a lot of people won’t see this as a high priority task, but it could yield really nice dividends for years and years afterwards. But I’m not hearing a lot about cities actually doing any of it. Pity.
I wonder if there is a tradeoff regarding animal aggression.
Like maybe rats that are more aggressive and competitive also engage in more risky behavior in other areas, like being more willing to eat bait or step onto traps.
If so, I’d assume that’ll push the evolutionary pressure back towards more timid vermin if all the aggressive ones end up being killed by traps that the timid ones avoid.
Unfortunately, state and municipal government budgets have gotten whacked by the events of this year. Most of them will be in too much of a hole for this year to spend money on even terrific ideas, if their payoff is down the road rather than right now.
Fuck our stupid system of government, and fuck our stupid leadership.
I don’t see much value in this proposal. Let’s say by some herculean effort we killed 99% of the rats in a city. By my estimate, it would take about a year or two for the population to completely recover after their normal food supply becomes available again.
Right, that’s the problem. Even extraordinary measures aren’t going to wipe them out completely, and without adverse pressure on their population, they’ll quickly come back as soon as the measures end. (And they’ll be even more pissed at us.)
[hijack] Trump wants a gigantic venue for the RNC with no seat restrictions, he says he must have accommodations for his fans. If he does indeed find such a venue, is that an example of Darwinism? [/hijack]
~VOW
COVID seems to be affecting behavior of various animals that live in proximity to people. Raccoons like rats are more likely to be seen in daylight now in the inner NY area, probably for the same reason, less commercial garbage. The other day though I saw a pair of deer strolling down my street. This is a city street, across the river from Manhattan in NJ, but only ~2 air miles from the Empire State building. They’ve been in the woods on the less steep parts of the cliffs along the Hudson for some years (though many years ago they weren’t that close to the City) but that was the first time I saw them on an urban street many blocks from the cliffs. I guess it could be some COVID effect, fewer people around or something to do with the change in behavior of other animals?