I’m in northern Manhattan, and going by the behavior of the park rats, I’m not so sure rats care if we hate them. If I go down by the water in the park near my building, I have to keep an eye out for the little darlings, lest one scamper too close.
(Let me point out here, I love animals, but rats just get to me for some reason… I think it’s the tails… can’t deal with gerbils, either… but enough about me…)
Seriously though, while the park rats I’ve seen don’t come begging the way park squirrels will, they’re not especially skittish. Also, I’m never in the park after dark so the only ones I see are probably just concentrating on catching a few z’s before sundown, when rat party time starts.
p.s. to Slithy Tove & c-goat: When I was growing up in Newburgh, NY, not a rural area, I had a neighbor who claimed one squirrel made a nice-sized pot of pasta sauce for him and his wife. I don’t wanna know what those squirrels were living on before he offed 'em…
In addition to the diseases and the roof damage, squirrels are TERRIBLE about chewing phone lines. Right now, I’ve got real problems connecting to the internet/web because my phone lines have been chewed so badly.
On the other hand, they do amuse and distract the dogs.
Squirrels do not carry rabies. My ex worked for The Department of Health, we got into a huge debate over this ( argument ) and to prove that squirrels DID carry rabies I went out and accosted approximately 3047 of them to the point of squirrel attack ( they really don’t bite that hard) and lo and behold, I did not catch rabies, so I had to eat crow ( which also does not carry rabies)…
Ah, yes! Birds, being warm-blooded, can also have rabies.
Again from the CDC website:
[quote]
Rabies virus causes an acute encephalitis in all warm-blooded hosts, including humans, and the outcome is almost always fatal. Although all species of mammals are susceptible to rabies virus infection, only a few species are important for as reservoirs for ng the disease in nature. In the United States, several distinct rabies virus variants have been identified in terrestrial mammals, including major terrestrial reservoirs in raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes. In addition to the terrestrial reservoirs for rabies, several species of insectivorous bats also serve as reservoirs for the disease. **
Rats and squirrels are both a pain in the ass, but at least you can make the neighborhood squirrels do stupid tricks for bits of cracker or nuts.
The neat thing about squirrels (as they teach you in many survival courses) is they have a LOT of meat on’em for their size, and they’re easy to skin. You just slice the skin around each foreleg ‘wrist’, then slice from one wrist across the chest to the other. Grab the chest and yank. Off comes the skin!
[hijak] I hate seagulls, they are EEE-villle. I swear they’re rats with wings. Imagine flying rats and there you go. [/hijak]