Rats! Rats! Rats!

[uair01]

From Twitter by: Emma Court @emmarcourt

NYC is limiting the hours when trash is taken out because of issues with rats, and it's genuinely hard to pick a favorite quote from today's presser
Pick your fighter:

"There are many rivers that are feeding the sea of rodents in the city, and today we're damming one of them"
"The biggest swing you can take in cleaning up our streets is shutting down the all night, all-you-can-eat rat buffet"
"Rats will hate this announcement" (!!!)
"The rats don't run this city, we do"
"This is not Ratatouille. Rats are not our friends"

And finally, from Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch:
"New Yorkers will not have to fear as many rats hiding in late night shadows."

 

[Cochise]

From Twitter by: Emma Court @emmarcourt

NYC is limiting the hours when trash is taken out because of issues with rats, and it's genuinely hard to pick a favorite quote from today's presser
Pick your fighter:

"There are many rivers that are feeding the sea of rodents in the city, and today we're damming one of them"
"The biggest swing you can take in cleaning up our streets is shutting down the all night, all-you-can-eat rat buffet"
"Rats will hate this announcement" (!!!)
"The rats don't run this city, we do"
"This is not Ratatouille. Rats are not our friends"

And finally, from Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch:
"New Yorkers will not have to fear as many rats hiding in late night shadows."

Although to be fair rats run pretty much everywhere. if it isn't cockroaches that take over it will be rats. Or ants.

 

[Trevp666]

Or some strange chimeric hybrid of all 3.
The Cockratant.

 

[ramonmercado]

Hmmmm. Judge Chaudhary and the police may have a good scam going here.

Police in India have blamed rats for destroying nearly 200kg (440lb) of cannabis seized from dealers and kept in police stations.

"Rats are tiny animals and they have no fear of the police. It's difficult to protect the drug from them," a court in Uttar Pradesh state has said. The court had asked the police to produce the stash as evidence in cases of drug peddling. The judge cited three cases in which marijuana was destroyed by rodents. Judge Sanjay Chaudhary said in an order that when the court asked the police to produce the seized drug as evidence, it was told that 195kg of cannabis had been "destroyed" by rats. In another case involving 386kg of the drug, the police filed a report saying "some" of the cannabis was "eaten up by the rats".

Judge Chaudhary said some 700kg of marijuana seized by the police was lying in police stations in Mathura district and that "all of it was under danger of infestation by rats". He said the police had no expertise in dealing with the matter as the rats were "too small". The only way to protect the seized goods from "such fearless mice", he added, was to auction the drugs to research labs and medicine firms, with the proceeds going to the government.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63739836

 

[Trevp666]

Judge Chaudhary and the police may have a good scam going here.

possibly

Judge Chaudhary said

from his gold-plated, diamond encrusted, desk......

 

[Mythopoeika]

Rats? Or could they be 'rats', who actually smoke that stuff?

 

[maximus otter]

Rats? Or could they be 'rats', who actually smoke that stuff?

maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

Ratcatcher General!

The New York City Office of the Mayor is seeking a Director of Rodent Mitigation to deal with the city's brutal rat problem. Sounds like serious business even though the job posting mentions some comedic (?) qualifications:

Do you have what it takes to do the impossible? A virulent vehemence for vermin? A background in
urban planning, project management, or government? And most importantly, the drive, determination
and killer instinct needed to fight the real enemy – New York City's relentless rat population?
If so, your dream job awaits: New York's Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation.
The Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation is a high-visibility, high-impact leadership role with one of
the most important tasks in city government – keeping the city's rats in check and on notice. Despite
their successful public engagement strategy and cheeky social media presence, rats are not our friends –
they are enemies that must be vanquished by the combined forces of our city government. Rodents
spread disease, damage homes and wiring, and even attempt to control the movements of kitchen
staffers in an effort to take over human jobs. Cunning, voracious, and prolific, New York City's rats are
legendary for their survival skills, but they don't run this city – we do. ...

https://boingboing.net/2022/12/01/n...-mitigation-to-deal-with-the-rat-problem.html

 

[ramonmercado]

Vid at link.

Rats that are claimed to be "as big as cats" are feared to be causing the erosion of cliffs at a tourist hotspot.

Footage of the rodents shows them scuttling around Castle Beach in Tenby as waves crash against the rocks below.

Residents said the problem had been been getting worse in recent months.

Pembrokeshire council urged people not to feed birds or drop food, and said specialist staff were examining the cliffs where the rats are thought to be nesting.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-64823629

 

[kesavaross]

They should do what they do on the railways when rabbits and rats get too prolific and the burrows threaten to undermine the track. They pump the burrows full of cement. Sounds a bit horrific but it works. For rabbit burrows they do it at night time and for rats it's done during the day.

 

[ramonmercado]

They should do what they do on the railways when rabbits and rats get too prolific and the burrows threaten to undermine the track. They pump the burrows full of cement. Sounds a bit horrific but it works. For rabbit burrows they do it at night time and for rats it's done during the day.

Or employ JRTs.

 

[ramonmercado]

Might be Weil's disease.

At least five people have died in north-west Tanzania from an unidentified illness, officials say.

Seven cases have so far been reported in Kagera region and the authorities have dispatched a team of doctors to diagnose the disease.

Health authorities in the East African country have described the illness as strange.

Its symptoms include fever, headaches, fatigue and nosebleeds, according to the government's chief medical officer Tumaini Nagu.

"The government formed a regional team of professionals under the Rapid Response Team who are investigating this unknown disease," Prof Nagu said on Thursday evening.

She asked residents in the area to remain calm and avoid contact with infected people.

In July last year, more than 20 cases with similar symptoms were reported in the southern Lindi region. Three people died from the outbreak.

Investigations later identified the disease as leptospirosis, also known as Weil's disease.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world...13fdc7ff51f554d28c1768&pinned_post_type=share