Rats are the pests that everyone loves to hate because they are thought to be dirty and dangerous. They are everywhere, and no matter how hard we try, we can’t get rid of them. One reason they are a problem is that they can have a lot of babies. A single female rat can have anywhere from six to twelve babies at the same time. Experts say that a pair of rats can have 15,000 children in a single year. So it’s not surprising that these rats and mice spread quickly and take over a neighborhood. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that rats are responsible for more than 35 different illnesses, from typhus to the bubonic plague.
Most people’s worst nightmare is to live in a place with a lot of rats. This is why Orkin, a well-known pest control company in the United States, releases its list of the “Top Rattiest Cities” every year. The list is based on the number of new rodent treatments done in both homes and businesses over the past year.
In this piece, we list the 10 cities in the United States with the most rat problems, based on the latest ranking by Orkin from September 2020 to September 2021, and explain why these cities are at the top of the list.
The cities with the most rats in the U.S.
10. Ohio, Cleveland
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cleveland, Ohio, moved into the top 10 for the first time in the latest list by Orkin. Since most of the restaurants in the city closed, these rats had to look for food in other places. Rats are often found in cities because trash piles up and trash isn’t thrown away properly. Like in most big towns, the number of people in Cleveland is a big reason why there are more rats.
9. Denver, Colorado
Denver is the ninth city in the United States with the most rats. Since people can remember, rats and mice have been a problem in this city. Rats are especially common near open spaces and building sites in Detroit, because these places make holes that rodents can use to get into homes. Human waste and the buildup of trash are also big parts of the problem. In fact, it was said that Lincoln Memorial Park would be closed in 2020 because of a “major rat infestation.”
8. Detroit, Michigan
The most recent list by Orkin put Detroit as the eighth city in the United States with the most rats. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when restaurants had to close, there were more mice and rats in the city than usual. Most rats in Detroit started looking for food in strange places because there wasn’t enough food trash for them to eat. Rats and mice keep getting worse in the state, which is sad, because trash is left out everywhere.
7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Orkin’s new list says that Philadelphia is the seventh most rat-infested city in the United States. Rats are getting more and more common in this city. Residents say that rats are everywhere in their neighborhoods and are hard to get rid of. The main reasons for this infestation are the lack of cleanliness in the city and the fact that many rats had to look for new food sources after restaurants closed during the pandemic.
6. Baltimore, Maryland
The last time Baltimore was ranked, it was at No. 8. This time, it’s at No. 6. The brown rat, also known as the Norway rat, is the most common type of rat in the city. It is known for spreading diseases and causing damage to property. Theo Anthony, a local director, made the documentary Rat Film because the rats in Baltimore are so well-known. There have been a lot of tries to get rid of these rats, but their numbers keep going up. Experts in Baltimore have linked the city’s rat problem to illegal dumping and trash collecting, as well as to homes that are in bad shape.
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5. San Francisco, California
San Francisco is the fifth most rat-infested city in the U.S., and it’s not hard to figure out why: open garbage is the main cause. Reform California says that the rise in the number of rodents in this big city is also linked to the fact that some ways of getting rid of rodents have been banned in some parts of the city. Rats get into homes through broken underground lines, drains, toilets, and other strange places. There are so many people who need exterminators that many of them have waiting lists.
4. The capital of the United States, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., is the fourth most rat-infested city in the United States. It has been in this spot since 2019. There are a lot of people living in the city, and there are also more and more bars and restaurants. This makes it easy for these animals to do well there. There is a big problem with too much food waste and not enough places to put trash. Even though a lot of work has been done to control the rat situation in Washington, D.C., it keeps getting worse.
3. It’s New York, New York
More than two million rats live in New York City. The brown rat is the most common type of rat in this city, which is ranked third on the list of “rattiest cities” in the United States. Rats can be seen everywhere (even in the daytime) in New York City, where there are a lot of people and a lot of trash on every subway, street, and block. Rats have been a problem in New York for a long time. This is because the number of restaurants in the city keeps growing, giving rats more places to eat extra food. The New York City Department of Health is using a number of methods to get rid of these pests.
2. Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles is becoming less clean because of its growing population, pollution, homeless people, and bad waste management. Since 2019, Los Angeles has stayed at No. 2 on the list of places with the most rats, which doesn’t come as a surprise. You can’t find a neighborhood in the city that isn’t affected by this pest problem, whether it’s a poor neighborhood or a wealthy one. Most people are getting more worried about rats, especially Norway rats, because these rats have been linked to the spread of typhus in the city.
1. Chicago, Illinois
People often call Chicago the “rattiest city” or “rat capital” in the U.S. Orkin has said for seven years in a row that Chicago is the place with the most rats. Since Chicago has more complaints than the other three towns put together, the north and northwest parts of the city with the most people report more rat infestations. Rats are more likely to live in a city with more people because there are more places to get food and more houses. It was said that the main reason why rats are a problem in Chicago is that there is a lot of trash and not enough places to put it.
The post Find Out Which Cities in the U.S. Have the Most Rats appeared first on AZ Animals.
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