Dear reader,
Only in the days leading up to a potentially cataclysmic US election would this news be a welcome respite from doomscrolling: Toronto has yet again been crowned “rattiest city” in Canada. This past week, it was handed the title by pest control company Orkin, which also listed Mississauga and Scarborough in its top 10.
Growing up in the countryside near Ottawa, I was used to rodents. One winter, my parents affectionately christened the mystery animal that scratched at the walls in the attic bedroom I shared with my sisters “Roger the Lodger.” But it was only once I’d lived in cities that I truly understood how omnipresent (and disruptive) rats can be.
As writer Jason McBride explained in“Rat Apocalypse!”—a piece that is even more relevant 10 years on—milder winters lead to longer life cycles for pests, while construction booms disturb nests and more people means more food sources for rats. In short: as long as we’re here, they’ll be here too.
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