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Tell us: Does Greater Boston have a rat problem?

What do you think lawmakers should do to combat the rodent population?

Does Greater Boston have a rat problem? George Rizer/Globe Staff

May 5, 2023

1 minute to read

Rats are on the rise in cities and towns across Greater Boston and residents are increasingly fed up.

In Brookline, a petition to fight the rodent population gained over a thousand signatures in a little over a month at the start of the year. Somerville and Cambridge have turned to high-tech rat traps that alert the city when a rat is killed and in Newton, part of the solution has been rat birth control. Now Boston, repeatedly named one of America’s rattiest cities, is looking to address its rodent problem with “a rat department.”

City Councilor Ed Flynn thinks Boston should do more to win the war on rats

City Councilor Ed Flynn thinks Boston should follow in the footsteps of New York City and create an office to combat the pests. New York recently named a director of rodent mitigation, a move Flynn and other city council members feel is overdue in Boston. Councilor Liz Breadon told Boston.com that an office of pest control “is really past due.”

“Every year, we go in and we have the same conversation, but we really need to try and move the needle on this,” she said.

While rats have always been a fixture in cities, the pandemic made infestations worse than in previous years. Initially, closed-down restaurants and fewer city dwellers meant rats were struggling to find their usual source of food but researchers found that rat populations became more brazen in their search for food and spread out beyond their typical environments in city centers. As the world has opened back up, rats are thriving once again, much to the dismay of their human neighbors.

Have you noticed an increase in rats in your neighborhood or town? Tell us if you think Greater Boston has a rat problem and what you think should be done about the rat infestation in the region by filling out the survey below or emailing us at [email protected]. We may feature your response in a future article or on Boston.com social media channels.

Does Greater Boston have a rat problem?

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